Code: Siblings?
by Lady Epur
Summary: CHAPTER 14 IS UP! Miss Jenna's adopting Odd, and he can't be happier. Cali's been invited to the Scholastic Decathlon! It's being held in Bordeaux, which happens to be where Odd is... Things are gonna get messy...
1. Annoying SS Workers and A New School

1**I do not own Code Lyoko. Now you can't sue me. sticks out tongue**

**Redid the formatting. More fun to read. Hooray!**

I stood at the gates. The annoying and false cheery Social Services woman yakking away about how nice the school was and how nice the people who had taken me in before gave them the money to send me here. Okay, so they kicked me out of the house. But I was glad anyway. That little monster was a nightmare. I was so relieved to be back in the S.S.'s care than the Hillmans. Their little son, Mathias, the funniest name I had ever heard of, was always making me do stuff for him. If I didn't, he would tell his parents that I was the worst foster sister he ever had. Even though I was the ONLY one he ever had. But when he pushed me down the stairs, it was the last straw. I would've beaten little Matthias into a bloody pulp, except he was so darn cute that I couldn't bring myself to do it. So I screamed every cuss word I had ever accumulated at the top of my lungs. Needless to say, it took a lot of explaining to Mathias before he stopped saying those words. The Hillman parents took me back to S.S. with the Kadic brochure and the money to send me to that school until I graduated. The Hillman parents were nice people, just not their little son. So here I was, standing in front of the massive Kadic gates. I wasn't a very social person, I never took the time to make friends because I had always been kicked out of foster home to foster home in all but a month or so after I arrived. But this was my chance. I could make friends. A new beginning. The school was my music score, ready for me to play my song to the world. That was another thing the Hillman parents had done for me. They had given me my own electric guitar, a see through blue one at that. I knew it was expensive, and thanked the Hillman parents for it very graciously. They knew their son was a little devil, and wanted to make it up to me, but I just couldn't live with them because Mathias couldn't live with me. AND they got me a new wardrobe. A nice one at that. They let me pick out whatever I wanted, and bought it for me. The S.S. gave me all my toiletries. Deodorant, toothbrush, necessary items. And they functioned well... you could say.

The woman looked down at me. "You'll have so much fun here, California, dear," said the woman.

Yep, that's my name. California. Why? Because my mother was an idiot and she was fourteen when she had me, then dumped me into the adoption agency before disappearing off to wherever she went. And she loved California. So she named me that, but she was gonna use Cali as a nickname when she realized how stupid of a name it was.

How do I know this? I guessed for most of it. Except the fourteen part. She really did have me at fourteen. But I call my mother an idiot because she just had me, and then dumped me into an adoption agency. I don't even know if she was gonna call me Cali for short. That was my decision. Because, would you want to be called California?

"Cali," I mumbled. We walked into the gates.

"You'll make so many friends, California. Oh, the Hillmans were so nice to pay for you to come here. They have superb teachers and hard-working students. Oh, you'll fit right in," said the woman. I knew she thought what all adults thought when they looked at me. Some homeless punk who thinks they can make it on their own. But her voice was covered in false bright and cheery tones because that was her job.

I eyed my guitar case, they are pretty nice.

"Well, California, we just need to get some forms signed and then find your room," the woman said with the same false tone. So we headed into the principal's office.

"Seems like we are able to welcome you here, California," said the principal.

"It's Cali," I said.

"Oh, all right, I'll call you Cali. And I'm Jean-Pierre Delmas, the headmaster here at Kadic. But you can call me Principal Delmas." He handed me a slip of paper with my room number and class schedule on it. "I know you should be in sixth grade, but your grades are superb. You would have a better challenge in the seventh grade." I took the slip of paper.

"Thanks."

He was right though, I was very smart. I _should_ be in the sixth grade since I'm twelve, but I picked up a lot of intelligence along my life. I've only gone to school from fourth to sixth grade, but I aced everything they gave me and they let me stay in the grade I was in. Not the best education in the world, but I was undoubtedly smart. I got most of my education from reading.

The S.S. woman and I walked out of the principal's office. We stopped a little ways away from it. "Well, I'm sorry I have to leave, California, but I have another appointment I must get to. Maybe you'll find a friend to help you find your way around school. Goodbye, California!" The false tone in her voice was definitely getting me annoyed. I didn't bother correcting my name. I was never going to see her again anyways.

"Maybe you'll find a friend to help you around school my butt," I said aloud. I didn't have much trouble finding my room. I didn't need anyone to help me find my way around. There was a thing called a map and I knew how to use one quite well. I dropped my two suitcases and guitar case onto my bad and sat down. Comfier than the cot at Gary's house. He only took me in so I could clean the house for him. Lazy and humongous fellow. He abused me; the S.S. came and let me sue the guy. I didn't go to school that year. But I did win the case and got 5,000 dollars, which the next foster family greedily took, saying they'd need it to raise me. At least I went to school there, but they treated me like crap, and sent me off to the S.S. when their little illegal company went bankrupt and they fled to Canada to escape the cops.

I took a look at the slip of paper in my hands. "Mz. Hertz, science, building eight, room four," I read aloud. I remember passing by that building on my way to my room. I took a look at the mirror before I headed off. Staring back at me were icy blue eyes, shoulder length blond hair with bold blue streaks in them, a white tank-top with a blue over shirt, a khaki mini-skirt, and blue tennis shoes. I fixed my hair up into a bun before exiting the room.

"Well class, we have a new student, today," said the woman who was undoubtedly Mz. Hertz. All the students who looked up kept their eyes on me. I guess they didn't get very many new students in the middle of the school year. My eyes wandered around the room. They caught on a wildly dressed boy in purple, with one spike of blond with a patch of purple. A boy in green sat next to him with his hands behind his head, laughing. And a blond boy with glasses, blue turtleneck and khaki capris sat in front of them, typing away on a laptop. He didn't even look up. "Her name is California ." people snickered. "California Hester," I had kept the last name of my other's all through my life.

"It's Cali," I instinctively said. I finally saw the boy with the laptop. His head had snapped up when he had heard my last name. Behind his glasses, I saw his eyes. Icy-blue, just like mine. And then I realized something, I was staring into the male version, of... Me!


	2. ESP? Uhh Yeah

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**Disclaimer: Lyoko Code own not do I! But I do own Cali! Hoorah!**

**Here's the second chappy peeps! **

**I know the welding **thing **in this is probably not correct, but bare with me, here!**

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For a moment or two, I stood there, completely frozen. I mean, what would you do? My mind kept on replaying an image of the boy in front of me, only smaller.

**.:FLASHBACK:.**

"Cali! They found someone foe us! Cwome on! Let's gwo!"

"Okay, Remie!" And then the two parents came, and the woman picked up Remie. I smiled up at them, ready for them to pick me up. They smiled, but walked away. "Remie!" I kept on calling. It was no use, he was gone.

**.:END FLASHBACK:.**

I had always thought he was a dream, someone I had made up. But here he was, standing right in front of me. Remie. The closest I'll ever get to my mother. And even before Mz. Hertz could seat me, I took the seat next to him.

"Who are you?" I asked, even though I already knew who he was.

"All right, you can sit there," said Mz. Hertz and began a long lecture about gravity. But no one was paying attention to her. They were paying attention to us.

The boy looked at me. "I'm Jeremie Belpois."

I looked down. We couldn't be related. We had different last names. "Oh."

"You have my mother's last name," he said. His eyes, same as mine, were gentle and warm.

"I could say the same thing." I said softly. It was almost too much to handle.

He looked back at his laptop. We didn't say anything for a few moments.

"When's your birthday?" he asked suddenly.

"June 9," (**A/N: that's me and me twinnie's b-day!**) I said.

"No way," he said. Then looked back at me. "That's my birthday," he said quietly, as though he was figuring something out, calculating his answer in his head.

"REMIE!" I practically screamed. I threw my arms around him and pulled him into a tight hug. "I- I always thought it was just a dream. That I was alone in the world," I said as tears began falling down my face.

Mz. Hertz turned around. "No Personal Displays of Affection in class," then turned back.

I pulled away from Jeremie, and noticed that he was crying. "Well, you're not alone anymore," he said, ruffling up my hair. I responded by punching his forearm. He laughed.

"These are my friends," he said turning to look behind him. "That's Odd, the one in the purple."

"Hey," he said.

"And that's Ulrich."

"Hi," he said. He looked at me, and then Jeremie. "Who are you, exactly?"

I smiled, looking at Jeremie, to Odd, then Ulrich. "I'm Cali, Remie's twin sister."

"Whoa! Einstein and his double!" said Odd, laughing.

I began laughing with him. Mz. Hertz turned around. "Mr. Belpois! Oops, I mean, Miss Hester. Please pay attention."

I laughed again. This would be fun. I knew right away that I was gonna fit in here.

We all walked off to lunch, Jeremie and I talking about what we had been doing for the past few years. Odd seemed especially interested about the family who was running from the cops. There, at a table, was a girl older than us, clothed in black from head to toe, was writing something down.

"Hey guys!" she noticed me, then looked at Jeremie. Better get used to this. "Who are you?

"I'm Cali, Remie's twin sister. And you are...?"

"Yumi." she looked at Jeremie. "You and Remie-"

"Are twins." Jeremie finished.

"Okay. This is weird, but okay," said Yumi, and we all sat down.

I was talking to them all about the family who used socks to furnish their home. "So the beds were incredibly smelly," I said.

"I heard Jeremie had a twin, but I didn't believe them. What are we going to do with two Jeremie's on the loose?" said an annoying voice. I looked up to see a prep dressed kn pink.

"Sissi, leave us alone!" said Ulrich.

"Why Ulrich, dear? I know you want me."

He groaned.

"I dunno, two Jeremie's might be good for this school. But with two Sissi's running around, I think half the school would commit suicide," I said.

"Uh, we'll just see about that!" said Sissi, turning up her nose and walking away.

Jeremie patted me on the back. "Good one Cali."

"Doesn't take a genius to figure out who the enemies are," I said. I got up to put my tray in the trash.

Jeremie looked at the group. "I think we should tell her," he said.

"What? You've known her for an hour and you're giving her the biggest secret in the world?

"She's my twin! I trust her with my life!" said Jeremie.

I returned. "Hey, Remie, glad you trust me with your life!" I began ruffling up his hair.

"Get off!" he said, pushing me off.

"Those two act like they've known each other their entire lives!" said Odd, joining me in giving Jeremie a noogie.

"I sat back down. I don't like that Sissi girl." I said simply.

"You and me both," said Yumi. "She thinks she's some kind of Princess because her father was the principal of the school."

"And you'd think Principal Delmas couldn't have such a selfish daughter," said Ulrich. "She's in love with me, and that's why she won't leave us alone."

"Say, have you been in contact with Jeremie before? Like ESP or something?" asked Yumi.

"Nope. That kind of thing is a lie. Only people desperate for publicity say stuff like that," I said.

"Aww, too bad, Cali," said Odd. "It woulda been fun to know what Einstein's thinking."

"Hey Cali, I wanna take you somewhere. There's someone I want you to meet," said Jeremie. "Follow us."

"Who? Your girlfriend?" I asked.

"Are you sure you don't have ESP?" asked Yumi behind a snickering Odd and Ulrich.

"Aelita and I are just friends," said Jeremie, blushing.

"Uh-huh, Remie. You and this Aelita have something special. I can tell by that blush in your cheeks," I said. Jeremie just turned away and lead us out of the cafeteria, into some woods, and to a sewer hole.

We climbed down into that, I spotted three skateboards and a scooter. "You didn't even put out a skateboard for me?" I said.

"You can use mine until we get you one," said Odd. He threw it over to me.

"Thanks," I said as I hopped onto the board. "Let's see if you can keep up with me."

"Oh, you're on!" I went as fast as I could, doing a few complicated tricks on the way. Hey, Odd was cute, I wanted to impress him. I figured we were going to some secret place Jeremie and his friends had found, and some kid from another school would be there, so I didn't ask any questions.

We reached the ladder, and Odd put his hands on his knees, panting. "You gave me quite a work-out," he said.

"Glad I could help!"

"This way!" said Jeremie as we climbed up the ladder and into the factory, where we swung on the ropes and landed in front of the freight elevator. I noticed a pile of metal laying around some other pieces of equipment. I noticed the metal immediately. We were in an abandoned car factory.

"Awesome hang-out," I said inside the elevator. Yumi, Odd, Ulrich, and Jeremie looked at each other, and smiled.

The door opened, revealing a large dome-shaped room covered in a greenish glow. In the center, a chair that connected to a large computer with three panels that circled around a large globe-like map with four regions. My mouth dropped open. This place was truly amazing.

"What have you gotten yourself into, Remie?" I asked.

He laughed. "Just a habit of saving the world." He sat on the chair, and it swivelled around the globe and came to rest at the large computer, there he put on a headset. "Aelita, can you hear me?"

There, in a little pop-up window, stood an elfin girl with bright pink hair and clad in pink and yellow. "Yes, Jeremie. Why are you here? XANA's been quiet and I don't feel any pulsations. Not that I don't want you here." Jeremie blushed.

"There's someone I want you to meet," said Jeremie, beckoning me closer.

Aelita looked at Jeremie, then to me, and back again. "You both have the same face," she said.

"Yes, Aelita. That's because she and are twins," said Jeremie.

"I always thought twins were two boys or two girls," said Aelita.

"That's usually what happens, but sometimes the outcome is a boy and a girl," said Jeremie.

"Oh. But, you never told me you had a twin, Jeremie," said Aelita.

"I didn't know until today. Aelita, this is Cali," said Jeremie.

"Hello, I'm Aelita."

"Cali," I said. "So what is this place, Remie?" I asked.

"It's the headquarters to virtual world called Lyoko. An evil computer program named XANA, one of Lyoko's inhabitants, has been trying to take over the world for quite some time," explained Jeremie.

"With no luck," added a proud Odd.

"Whenever XANA attacks, I send Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi to Lyoko. They have powers and weapons there along with only 100 life points. They have to protect Aelita from the monsters that XANA employs to take down Aelita. Aelita then enters the activated tower, and deactivates it, thus saving the world," said Jeremie.

"And what do you do, bro?"

"I oversee all the controls. I send the others into Lyoko, and tell them if a monster's on the way."

"Can I go there? Lyoko, I mean?" I asked.

"Uh, sure. I just need to make a Lyoko card for you. Guys, toke Cali down to the scanner room," said Jeremie.

Cali followed the others back into the freight elevator, down another floor, and into a room with three tall and thin cylindrical tubes connected by thick clumps of cables.

"I have to scan in the others first, so you'll have to wait-"

"No I won't," I said. I remembered the metal we had passed by and realized it was the same metal that the scanners were made of. Remembering the time I stayed with a professional welder, I took in the shape of the scanners. Then pulling out a notepad from my backpack, I began sketching out the shape of the scanners, recording it's measurements and labeling each part before jeremie even spoke again.

"What do you mean?" asked Jeremie.

"I can make one. I saw the same material these scanners are made of on the way to the elevator. I just need a welding machine and a place to work," I said, closing up my notepad.

"Well, there's a room with a welding machine in it on the ground floor-"

"Great, I said, take me to it," I said to Jeremie. Then I looked at the others. "Help me get that metal into the room."

And I set to work. It took me around three hours to make, it was a fairly simple job. Then we all loaded it into the freight elevator, and into the room, where we set it upright, and I began study the cables around the scanners. I began pulling some up.

"Be careful," said Jeremie from the intercom.

"I know what I'm doing, Remie."

"I know, but-"

"Yeah, yeah. If I do the wiring wrong, no one can go to Lyoko and you'll have to shut off Lyoko, killing Aelita cuz no one can go into Lyoko and XANA will be able to take over the world."

"I know, but it's-"

"More to you, Remie, then all of us. Mainly because of your precious Aelita," I said as I put the wires into the scanner I made.

"She's not-" I knew he was blushing.

"Done!" I said, backing up and wiping my hands on my skirt.

"Already?"

"Yes, Remie, you're not the only genius in the group now."

Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi laughed behind me.

"I'm done with your Lyoko card, Cali. We can go to... Ahhh!" Jeremie screamed.

Odd, Ulrich, Yumi and I looked at each other. "REMIE!" I screamed, climbing into the freight elevator, the others close behind.

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**Mwahahaha! I left you on another cliffy! Review so I can go on with the story. And for everyone who read this and is a twin, mention that in your review, too. I like twins, mainly cuz I am one my self. Well, till next chapter!**

Aelitagurl out

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	3. First Visits, and Remembering

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Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko**

**Before I get to the next chappie, I'd like to say thanks to: renayumi, Vic92091, raven2547, Neodude, and American-Kitty for reviewing. You get some of my world famous Scooby-Snacks!**

**On with the story:**

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We all stood pressed at the elevator door, cursing at how slow it went. The doors opened, and I stumbled out into the dimly lit domed room. There Jeremie was, head against the keyboard, The screen where Aelita was, was empty.

I ran to Jeremie, with the others close behind. My mind drew the conclusion that that XANA thing might have something to do with it. I looked at Jeremie. He still had a pulse, and his hair was a little frizzed up. I did the only thing that I could do to wake him up. I kneed him in the groin. Hard. His head jerked up and he grabbed himself.

"OUCH! What the hell was that for?" said Jeremie in a pained voice.

"A little wake-up, Remie. What's up? Is this XANA behind all this?" I asked, worried, and not the least bit guilty for what I had done.

"No. Aelita just unlinked the connection between Earth and Lyoko so we had to go to class. I screamed because in the process, the disconnection had electrocuted me, and I passed out," said Jeremie, wincing.

"Are you okay, Jeremie?" asked Yumi.

"Yes. But," said Jeremie, looking at his watch. "We have about two minutes to get to class."

We all looked at each other, and ran. Into the elevator. Through the sewer tunnel. Out the manhole. Through the park. Across the courtyard. Into the building. Collapsing into our seats just as the bell rang.

"Sorry you couldn't go to Lyoko, Cali. That place is awesome. We'll go after dinner, as long as you don't mind breaking curfew," said an out-of-breath Odd.

I smiled. "I don't think I'll mind."

I noticed something different about everyone in Jeremie's little group. Although they all had one thing in common, saving the world, obviously, they were very different. Odd and Ulrich were best friends, but totally opposite of each other. Odd is outgoing and hyper, while Ulrich is quiet and embarrasses quickly. Yumi is gothic, in a very gentle sort of way. And Jeremie, Jeremie is my twin. My very own twin. He's a total computer geek, and adorable. He and I have many things in common. A mother, intellect, looks(like in the face and height etc.), and group.

But I, unlike Jeremie, had to endure a life of home bouncing. Yes, sometimes I struck a good home, where they treated me the same and sent me to school and fed me and clothed me, but I always messed that up, and I'd end up in the S.S. again. I was abused many times by many different people, and I was uncared for for long lengths of time. I struck the jackpot here. I knew this was a permanent fix. And I already had a group of friends half-an-hour in. A huge change.

I had time before dinner to hang around. I went back to my dorm room. No room-mate. Good. I could play my guitar without being ragged on. I had finished setting my room up with the few personal touches I had. I opened my guitar case and lifted out my guitar. I began absent-mindedly strumming a few chords of "Collide." Once I finished that, I began playing a few chords of a rock song I had made up. I began getting really into it, jumping onto my bed and rocking my head.

"Dude! We can put a drumbeat on that and play that as a song!" said Odd, who had been standing there for a while it seemed.

I put my guitar down and jumped off the bed. I was blushing. Odd looked right past me and at the guitar.

"Sweet! Where'd you get that guitar?" said Odd, running over to it.

"My foster parents gave it to me, after they kicked me out, and sent me to this school," I said. It was a pretty cool guitar.

"You could play with us in PRP!" said Odd.

"PRP?"

"Pop Rock Progressives. It's my band. I play bass, Yumi sings, Ulrich plays the electric keyboard, and Nicholas, he plays the drums. Not my choice, but he's good. You could play the lead guitarist!"

"I dunno... I'm not very good. I've only picked up a few notes. I haven't even had any lessons," I said, uncertain.

"Nonsense!" said Odd. " That tune you played was great! You're a total natural! All we need to do is write the music for the bass, drum, and keyboard parts and write some lyrics."

"Ummm, okay. I'll play, as long as it's okay with the others."

"Of course it will be! We've been searching for a lead guitarist for months!" said Odd, putting the guitar back in it's case. "Let's go to dinner. Then it's off to Lyoko. Come on!" Odd grabbed my arm and began pulling me.

We were back at the scanner room again. Jeremie was ordering us around to do this and that, making sure all the wiring was right.

"OK, you can get into the scanners now," he said, typing on the keyboard as he did so.

"I stepped in, feeling the unwanted desire to pound on the door to let me out. I saw a bar go up to the top and back down, scanning me. A rush of air. Bright light. Then...

Nothing. I couldn't feel anything. I couldn't smell either. I landed on my face into the ground. I couldn't feel that. Good. I looked around. Odd, Yumi, Ulrich, and a pink-haired girl were walking towards me. Odd extended a hand. I took it. I could feel that. Oh, I could definitely feel that. It took a lot of restraining to keep a blush from entering my face.

"Welcome to Lyoko, Cali," said Odd. "This is where we kick some serious monster butt."

"Hello, Cali. I am Aelita. You do remember me from the super computer, right?"

"Uh, yeah. You electrocuted Remie," I said.

Aelita's smile faded into a wide-eyed stare. "I did? Oh my goodness!" she looked up at the sky, or whatever that was. "Oh Jeremie! I am so terribly sorry! Can you feel? Can you hear?"

Jeremie's voice sounded above us. "Of course I can, Aelita. Cali took care of that test." Oh yeah, he could feel. "It was an accident. I'm fine."

I looked at Odd, yes, he was wearing purple. What else is new? But he also had a tail now. And Yumi was dressed in a geisha outfit. Ulrich in a samurai-like attire.

I looked down at myself. My entire body was clothed in a white jumpsuit sort of thing that seemed to be custom-made just for me. On my feet were knee-length black boots. I wore a blue mini skirt and vest much like Aelita's. Sheathed in my belt was a capsule shaped like a pen. I pulled that out and pressed on it, emitting a blue laser widening the farther it went. It headed towards Odd, who jumped out from it's path with surprising agility.

My fist curled as I mentally punished myself for almost hurting him.

"Uhhh... Cali? You might wanna look down." I looked down to see a glowing blue force-field like shield coming out of what looked like my wrist. My hand unfurled, and the shield disappeared. When my fist curled, the shield appeared. When I stretched out my hand, it disappeared. And the shield grew bigger the more pressure I applied to my fist.

"We've got to figure out your Lyoko power," sounded Jeremie. I looked up, it was instinctive. "Yumi's got telekinesis, Ulrich's got multiplication, Odd has visions of the future, Aelita can manipulate her surroundings, so... let's see, what can you do?"

That was when I saw the small guitar-shaped figurine on my belt, near my little pen weapon. I took it out, and It grew full size five seconds out of the belt. The guitar strap was already around me, and I strummed a chord. A series of sound waves traveled out of it, clearly visible. The effect bent the trees over and knocked down the others.

"All right, that takes care of that," said Jeremie.

"SWEET! That is such an awesome power, Cali!" he exclaimed as he jumped over.

"Um, thanks."

He studied the guitar closer and saw that it was exactly the same guitar I had at school. "Hey, this is the guitar you have in your dorm!" said Odd.

Yumi, Ulrich and Aelita walked over.

"You have a guitar at school?" asked Yumi.

"Yeah."

"You could play in our band! We've been looking for a lead guitarist for a while now," said Ulrich.

"I was going to, I had already accepted Odd's invitation."

Ulrich and Yumi looked at Odd.

"What? I just dropped by her dorm and heard her play. She's amazing! And I asked her if she could join PRP."

"More like begged," I added.

Odd blushed slightly. "It's all right with you guys, right?"

"Of course, Odd! She can actually play!" Ulrich stated. Odd shot a laser arrow at Ulrich, who deflected it, and they began jumping around in battle.

I walked off with Yumi and Aelita. "This place is amazing," I said finally.

"Yes it is. This is my home. But XANA came and took everything from me, and I was lucky to get my distress call intercepted. It was Jeremie who received it, and he employed his friends to help me out. We've been fighting off XANA's monsters for a few years now."

"Will it ever stop?"

"We were so close last year. Jeremie had finally finished the materialization program for Aelita, and she was materialized successfully. But in the process, XANA planted a virus on Aelita, and if we shut down XANA, we kill Aelita."

"And now Jeremie is working on an anti-virus for me. But I can be materialized to Earth for a few hours at a time."

"Wow, I don't think I'll mind fighting XANA," I said.

"It can be pretty fun," said Yumi, agreeing. I caught a glance at Odd. It looked like he enjoyed being here, fighting. I smiled.

**.:NEXT DAY:.**

I was in P.E. now, kicking a soccer ball across the field towards Odd. I heard a whistle blow close to my ear.

"Hey! That was only my.." I had turned, and was facing Gary. But no, it wasn't Gary. Gary didn't have a band-aid on his cheek, or even red clothes for that matter. I flinched involuntarily.

"No _no _NO!" bellowed the man. He reached his hands toward me, and I fell back, whimpering and crawling backwards.

The man stepped back. "What's wrong?" he asked. I wouldn't talk to him. I couldn't. Odd came over and helped me up. The bruises all over me that had yet to recover were aching again.

"Hey Cali," said Odd, putting his arm around my waist. "Are you all right?" I kept my mouth clamped, the vomit waiting to be released from my mouth.

I spewed the remnants of my breakfast all over the field. My face was pale. What had happened? Gary wasn't part of my life anymore. He was gone. Far, far away from me. I promised myself I wouldn't let him take over my life. I hadn't even thought I'd see him ever again.

My mind was racing. All the memories of Gary's abuse filling my mind. The memories I had pushed to the back of my mind. The only thing that kept me alive was the promise I had made to myself that I would not let Gary win. I remembered sitting in the bathroom with the knife to my chest, but putting it down as I vowed myself to that promise. I remembered when he had taken a butcher knife and stabbed me in the stomach, leaving me to do the dishes. It was agony, I don't even remember how I finished them. That night I was stabbed I dragged myself to the hospital, saying I was home alone cutting some meat. The doctors transferred some blood into me and stitched up the wound. I was supposed to stay until the next afternoon, but I knew I couldn't. I know they knew I was lying, I wouldn't even tell them my name.

I was crying now. Odd was worried, excusing the both of us to go to the infirmary. He kept his arm around my waist. Wouldn't let go. I couldn't keep myself standing up. I remembered when Gary fed me bleach if I didn't finish my chores in the time frame he gave me.

We were in the infirmary now, I was laid down on a bed. Odd sat down on a chair near me.

"I'm fine, Odd," I said. Or, tried to say. But more vomit spewed out of my mouth instead.

Odd's face was tinted white, not like his usual pinkish-glow. He had his cell-phone to his ear, talking to Jeremie.

Jeremie burst into the infirmary, followed by Ulrich and Yumi. "What happened, Cali?" asked Jeremie, standing at my bedside.

I shook my head, sitting up and looking around. "I'm fine. I was just... remembering."

I stood up, Odd coming towards me, "Need help?"

I shook my head. "No, I'm fine."

And that's when the scream sounded. We all looked at each other.

"XANA," we said in unison.

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**Muahahaha. Another cliffy. I like them. Is the abuse thing good, SamBlob? I was going for the scared-of-anyone-who-looks-like-my-abuser tactic. I swiped a few ideas from the book: A Child Called It. Very sad book. Made me cry. More soon. Just review and there shall be more.**

**Aelitagurl out**

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	4. Empathy from Odd?

**Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko.**

**Heya! Sorry it's been so long to update! I've been busy lately. So... Here's the next chappie, and thanks for waiting!**

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All this sudden activity does a number to one's head, especially after having vomited twice and remembering things that should never have happened.

But I didn't let it affect me. I was tough. I knew I was. I couldn't let everyone save the world and exclude myself because my head hurt! Sure, I was scared. Scared so good I couldn't stop quivering. But it was slight, and no one took notice. They all acted quickly and expertly, having done this so many times they had gotten the routine down cold. But me, I didn't know what XANA could do. And I was scared.

The imagination is the worst and best part of any person. It can create situations with so much detail you'd think it could happen. Many evil creatures would definitely use the imagination against you, one of the best weapons they could harness. My mind, it had created an entire scene, one with Remie on the floor, looking on the verge of being dead. And Yumi was on the floor, too. But her chest was still heaving. Ulrich was on the left of me, vomit at his side and unconscious. And Odd, he laid on the floor, a pool of blood beside him, a monstrous creature taking a bite out of his stomach, pulling intestines and the liver out with it, enjoying it's meal.

I shook my head violently to rid of the image, even though it still lingered in the back of my mind, hazing all thoughts with the faint imprint of the image.

Remie looked at me. "Are you alright, Cali? You should lay down. We can handle this-"

"No way! I'm fine!" I protested, stepping one foot gingerly on the ground and heaving myself onto the floor and walking around. "See? I can walk! Let's go!" With each step the dizziness lingered, a mighty headache pounding in my skull. I put all the pain into the back of my mind to rest with the image. Save the world now, pain later.

I ran with the rest of them, my mind creating worse scenarios as we went. But I pushed that into the back of my mind too. All I allowed myself to think about was the job ahead of me.

We reached the factory, swinging on the ropes and sliding into the elevator. Jeremie took his place on the super computer as we descended onto the floor beneath him.

"Get into the scanners now guys!" said an impatient Jeremie. We did as we were told. I caught Odd's panicked face before I entered into my own scanner. The one I had built myself, just yesterday. I walked in, feeling the same way I did yesterday, wanting to get out after the door closed, even though now I knew where I was going. The bar took it's scan of me, rising to the top of the cylinder, and back down. The scanner began to make it's familiar rushing sound.

I counted to five, steadying myself for the air to rush around me, trying to pull me up with it. But it didn't come. I counted to five again, but the air still wasn't there. At this time, I began to curse myself for not building a vent into the scanner. Oxygen was becoming scarce. I banged on the door with as much force as I had. That wasn't going to help. I could barely make a dent in this metal, especially in the state I was in. I rested myself against the back of the scanner and allowed myself to think. I meditated in such a way where I barely breathed, a tactic I learned at a new age nut's house. I smiled half-consciously, glad that I had lived with her for a while. Now, to think.

I had made a total of three plans. Plan Number One: I could scream and bang until someone heard me. But what were the odds of that? The others were probably in Lyoko. And Jeremie was one floor above me.

Plan Number Two: Wait until someone noticed I wasn't there. But what good what that do? They wouldn't know why I wasn't there, much less where.

Plan Number Three: Savor the last bouts of Oxygen left and be happy with the fact that I died in battle. But first, I wasn't even in battle, and I didn't want to die.

I had nothing around me. So much for being a genius. Maybe if I had something around me, I could definitely make do with what I had around me if I was somewhere else. But I was in a scanner, with barely enough room to sit in, losing all oxygen. I was losing hope. I will not deny that. The situation I was in was hopeless. I had just met a brother I though I never had, three great friends, and a life of adventure. And it was all out the window now that I was trapped in this stupid contraption! I slammed my fists against the sides of the scanner in frustration. Life always had their hopeless moments, but I always had a backdoor out. The oxygen was gone. I was breathing in Carbon Monoxide and I knew it. My thoughts fogged over, the cylinder enshrouding in darkness. Air rushed around me, but I was already knocked out by then.

**.:Regular POV:.**

"Watch it, Ulrich, you've got 15 life-points left," said Jeremie.

"That's a first, Odd has more life points than Ulrich!" said Yumi as she threw her fan at an unsuspecting block to her left. The fan returned to her like a boomerang, and Yumi caught it with a gracefulness only achieved by dedicated practice.

Aelita stood in a little cave she had ducked into, creating a block of ice onto the opening to keep herself safe. Ulrich stabbed his sword into a hornet, falling back down faster than he thought and slipping on the ice under him. Another hornet came to Ulrich, firing a shot at him. It hit Ulrich, and he approached the hornet, thrusting his sword into the XANA eye. He staggered back, holding his stomach where the monster had hit him. But he wasn't fast enough, because the monster exploded in front of him, taking the last five life points Ulrich had with it.

"Welcome back to Earth, Ulrich," said Jeremie as Ulrich stumbled into the room.

Ulrich merely smiled and looked over Jeremie's shoulder and onto the computer screen. "What's XANA up to?"

Jeremie sighed. "XANA's taken over a few hundred soccer balls and chucking them at people."

"Man, he's running out of ideas," commented Ulrich as he watched Yumi dodge a hornet.

"What I don't understand is why he's not poisoning the school or something. This is not like him. He's only doing this as a distraction. But I need you to go back to the school anyways. The only safe place is in the sewers. There are no skateboards or scooters there, so you can bring them down."

"Okay. Fill me in when you figure out what he's really up to," said Ulrich as he left the room.

Yumi was next to devirtualize after killing a Mega-tank that exploded as she ran away. She met Jeremie, who told her to join Ulrich.

"Hey! Am I the only one to realize that Cali's not here?" asked Odd as he dodged yet another monster and shooting off a laser arrow at it. "And these monsters won't stop coming!"

"You're right, odd. I haven't noticed Cali at all. Do you think..." his voice trailed off as he launched a scan around the ice region to see if he could locate Cali.

"Just get her here! I can't hold off these things for much longer, you know!" cried Odd as he jumped away from two blocks that aimed at themselves in the middle of trying to get Odd. He shot another arrow and landed on the ground, putting his hands on his knees and panting.

"Great! Now I see what XANA was doing! He had wanted them all herded into the sewer so he could bury them all alive!" cried Jeremie.

Odd looked around. He saw a glint of orange atop a cliff. Thinking he saw the tower, he ran towards it, with Aelita in tow, firing arrows behind him at the monsters. But there was so many of them.

Odd knew it was too dangerous for Aelita to follow him. She ducked into a nearby cave and waited. Odd grabbed a piece of jagged ice and began climbing. A hornet hit him square in the shoulder. One of his hands slipped off the ice and on his shoulder. He shot an arrow at the monster, almost slipping, but grabbing the ice just before his feet gave way under him. He climbed higher, putting a knee on the surface at the top and hoisting himself up.

Yumi's cell phone rang, and she put it to her ear. "Jeremie?" she asked in a panicked voice.

"Yumi! XANA's collapsing the tunnels! Get everyone out now!"

"I can't. Both ways are blocked!"

Without saying another word, Jeremie hung up. "Sorry to disturb you, but it's REALLY urgent that Aelita get to that tower!"

"I'm working on it, Jeremie!" yelled Odd as he shot another arrow at an unsuspecting hornet. He looked in front of him, and realized that the orange he saw wasn't the tower, but a bubble, and Cali was trapped in it. The tower was just a few feet away from the bubble, but it was heavily guarded by more than twenty monsters, adding to the already high number of monsters around him.

"Cali!" yelled Odd, running to the bubble and pounding on it as hard as he could.

Yumi backed into Ulrich, falling into him. Ulrich made no movements for her to move off him, nor did Yumi stir. The two blushed to the color of crimson, but in the darkness no one could tell.

Aelita appeared at the surface of the cliff, running from the monsters. Odd dove in front of her to catch a monster's laser, and it hit him in the stomach. He staggered for a moment, but regained himself, joining Aelita at the bubble after killing the monster. She fell to the ground in a kneel, as did Odd.

Aelita sung her chord and the bubble burst. Cali fell to the ground, caught by Odd. Hey eyes fluttered open, and realizing where she was, she blushed. Odd just smiled.

**.:Cali's POV:.**

I was in Odd's arms. That was a surprise. I thought I was dead. Seriously, I thought I was. Then I find myself in Lyoko, in Odd's arms none-the-less, and out of the scanner. Good, I hated that thing. But I knew I'd have to go back in. To get out of here. And then again to save the world once more. But that didn't mean I had to like it.

"What's going on here?" I asked. Odd put me down.

"XANA's giving us quite the welcoming committee," said Odd, keeping a steady hand on me.

I shrugged off his hand, and pulled out my guitar.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" asked Odd. "That drains out more than half of your life points!"

"It's the most efficient way," I said, strumming a sole note on the guitar. The waves hit every monster around us. They exploded in unison, and Aelita began running towards the tower.

The dizziness and lack of oxygen, the memories and the pain along with it flooded from the back of my mind like a dam was suddenly open. I fell back, back into Odd's arms.

**.:Regular POV:.**

Ulrich saw the boulder falling towards Yumi. Without thinking, Ulrich jumped in front of Yumi, pushing her away from the rock, taking her place as the boulder's victim.

Yumi cried out in shock, falling to Ulrich's side, moving the boulder off him with the help of two other boys who had witnessed the scene. She grabbed Ulrich's wrist in haste and felt no pulse. "No," she sobbed, her voice quavering in shock and fear.

Yumi laced her hands together and pushed hard on Ulrich's chest. She only knew CPR from a safety TV show. She hoped that would be enough.

A crowd had gathered around Ulrich and Yumi, all holding their breaths to see if Ulrich would make it out all right. Sissi stood with the rest of them, open mouthed trying to scream, but silence took over the cabin. No one moved except to dodge the falling rocks.

Aelita entered the tower. She stepped to the middle of the platform, letting herself float up to uppermost one. Aelita pressed her hand on the screen.

AELITA

Cali looked at Odd. She got to her feet gingerly. Odd kept his arms on her, afraid to let her go. If he hadn't Cali would've fallen. Odd smiled, inching his face towards hers.

CODE:

Ulrich's eyes fluttered open. Yumi let out a breath in unison with the rest of the students. Yumi helped him up. She stood, her body pressed against Ulrich's. He inched his face toward her, Yumi responding the same way.

LYOKO

The bright screens around Aelita began falling, leaving the tower in a resounding darkness.

Jeremie wasted no time in entering the time mechanism. "Return to the past now!" he breathed. The white light took everything in it's path, Yumi and Ulrich's second attempt at a kiss, and Odd and Cali at their first.

I finally scored a goal! And won the whole game for the team. I was doing the victory dance, dancing around with the soccer ball at my feet.

Odd came over to me. "Great shot Cali! Good think you knew the knowledge to fake left beforehand."

I spun around, slipping over the ball. Odd's hand caught my arms and he pulled me back up. "Whoa, we wouldn't want another injury," he said. I had enough bruises and scars to last anyone a lifetime. I smiled.

I picked up the soccer ball. "That was a great game, Cali! What do you say about joining the soccer team?"

I looked up. It was Jim, no doubt. But he had such a strong resemblance to Gary that I flinched.

Odd put a hand on my shoulder. "It's all right," he whispered.

I looked up at Jim. "Sure, why not?" I answered.

"Great!" said Jim. "Practice is every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon at four to five-thirty."

Odd walked me to my dorm room. "You can come in, Odd." I told him. Odd nodded and walked in.

"Wow, ever heard of decorations?" asked Odd. The room was gray and bare.

"I don't really have anything. All I had with me here was two suitcases and my guitar." I had never been one to decorate. I deemed it worthless and had always never stayed too long to decorate. I was proud of what I had. I had a nice wardrobe and a guitar. I thought I was the luckiest girl in the world for having these things. And now even luckier for having a permanent roof over my head and a great group of friends.

Odd realized how sensitive I was about my possessions. "We'll have to change that," said Odd.

I sat on my bed. Crisp white sheets crumbling under me. Comfort was also another thing that was precious to me. I lived so long without it that now I thought it was a luxury.

Odd sat down next to me. "We have to talk about the Jim situation. I can't stand seeing you cowering in front of him every time he comes near you."

I nodded.

"Jim's a really good guy. Once Jeremie had developed a materialization program for Aelita, but Jim chased down Jeremie and he got a sprung ankle. Jim lost his job, but jeremie told him he'd straighten everything out if he'd help him get to the factory. But XANA put a virus on Aelita and materialized monsters into Earth. Jim almost died trying to help us save the world."

That seemed probable. "I just can't help it. I see him, but I think of Gary. And that was a horrible part of my life..." I told Odd of all my previous caretakers. I told him of Gary and Pex and Max who had abused me. The welder, the new age nut, crazy scientists, and even an artist. But I couldn't shake the images out of my head

Odd just nodded his head and held his hand on my shoulder the entire time.

"It will take a long time for the bruises to heal," said Odd, looking straight at the wall in front of us and not at me.

"What? But a lot of them have.." I said pulling my sleeve to show him.

Odd shook his head. "No, the bruises inside." I looked at him. I'd never seen this side before. Odd had always been a joker to me. This was different. This was a good side. "You will never forget what happened to you. But in time, the bruises they all made on you will heal, and you'll be ready to face life and not be able to dwell fearfully on the past."

"I push them to the back of my mind. That always worked for me."

"Yes, now. But you'll soon come to realize that it's not the way. That to talk about it is easier than hiding it." He looked at me with serious eyes. "It took me three years to realize that." He pulled his shirt up for me to see the scar. "They stabbed me too..." He put his hand under my own shirt and traced the scar on my stomach. "And we both made it through,"

"What? Who's They?" I asked. Odd was being too serious. Only someone who has been through it could understand. But wait! He's been through it! He understands! He knows!

Odd took my hand and looked right into my eyes. "I'm always here to talk, Cali. Always."

And he walked out of the room, leaving me in a resounding silence.

**.:Next Morning:.**

I met the others for breakfast. We had the delicious menu of rubbery oatmeal. After shoving my tray into the trash, I looked at odd. Even he wouldn't eat the breakfast. He had the playful look on his face again. You'd never known what he'd been through. Never. I decided to keep it between us.

After all, who would believe that odd derived from a past like mine? But maybe... there all different kids who spent some of their lives being abused handle it differently. I won't let it ruin my life. It's over. It's the past. And all of the others have realized that.

I pursed my lips tightly together. I was winning the raging battle in my mind. It was a revelation. I sent a silent message to all the kids out there, being abused or recovering from it. I told them that life goes on, and it's your choice to fight and keep on living, or let the bitch kill you.

And after, you have to make sure that you don't let the memories take you over.

I looked at odd, who looked at me, in the same eyes he had last evening. Ones filled with spite, hate, pain, sadness, and happiness altogether. At least he had gotten the message.

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**Not really much of a cliffie, but puts a whole new twist on things. Don't worry, things will get better in the chappies to come. Here's a sneak peek to next chapter.**

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"That math exam's gonna be a piece of cake," I told Odd as we were walking to lunch. We had been spending a lot more time lately. We could relate to each other so much.

"You have to help me study Cali, maybe you can devise a method of explaining it to me so I can actually understand it," Odd pleaded.

I smiled. "Well aren't we daring today? Does your brain hurt from using all those big words?"

Odd responded by smacking me in the back of the head. I began to chase him around the courtyard, papers flying out of kid's hands and curses muttered as our feet got a little too close to their work.

A man, tall and lean but very muscular came into view. He was wearing a suit. I stopped dead. Odd came over to me. "What's wrong?" he asked with the same eyes I had seen that evening he told me he understood. I had come to call those eyes, the Serious Eye.

"P-P-P-P-Pex," I stuttered. Odd looked at the man I was pointing to, and put his hands on my shoulders to stop my shuddering.

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**And that's just a teaser, my friends! Scooby Snacks for reviewing!**

**Aelitagurl out**


	5. Pex Is back?

**Disclaimer: Me no own CL**

**A/N:** **Hey! Here's the next chappie. Filled with a LOT of angst, so don't say I didn't warn you. Okay, I'll try and space out the distribution of these chapters so that it's not too far of a gap and not too short either. But I've started school already, so don't count on getting a chapter next week. Sorry!** **The italicized stuff is a dream. **

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"_Get that fucking garage cleaned!" yelled Pex. He was kicking me off the futon I had collapsed on earlier that night. I gritted my teeth, I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of knowing I was aching._

"_I did already!" I yelled._

"_Well, not good enough, apparently, because I don't think it's clean enough. I'm giving you an hour, or else you'll wish you were never born. Get that garage so clean I could use it as my kitchen!" He yelled, giving me one last parting kick before going off to sleep himself._

"_I already wish I wasn't born," I muttered. I limped into the garage and began cleaning. I hadn't had food in days. Or water for that matter. An hour later, I was lounging on some clothes I had found, admiring my work._

_Pex stomped in. "Good work!" he said walking over to me. He punched my chin. I fell back. _

"_But I finished!" I pleaded. "Please, please, no!"_

_It seemed that Pex loved to torture me. In his little sick mind he always was devising another way to torture me till I was to the point of death. Then treating me good enough to keep me alive, then doing it all over again._

_He picked me up by the collar of my shirt and carried me out of the garage. He brought me in the kitchen, where the stove was already fired up. He wanted me to make him a midnight snack? I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding._

_Pex just laughed. "Get on there," he ordered. I looked at him like he was crazy. But wait, he was._

"_No," I said defiantly. Oh, I was gonna pay for that one. _

"_What did you just fucking say?" he asked, coming near me._

"_I said no!" I said even more defiantly._

_Pex came on front of me. "Oh, you'll get up there all right, now you're even going willingly!"_

_I punched him in the face. "I said no!" Pex staggered back and collapsed. He was surprised I was standing up against him. I kicked him repeatedly. _

"_Stop, stop," he whimpered. _

_I smiled. That was only half the pain he had caused me. "Find yourself another slave!" I said, swiftly grabbing a bag and filling it with as much food as I could. And a lot of water too. This only took two minutes. And Pex was still lying on the floor. What a wimp. "Cos I'm not staying here any longer!" The pot of boiled water on the stove just waited there to be spilled._

_So the last thing I did before I left was pour that whole pot on Pex. I could see the skin on him reddening, and his screams were loud. Half the neighborhood probably heard that. But they were used to hearing screams. And stopped coming over._

_I smiled, standing over him. "What goes around, comes around, you fucking bastard!" I gave him one last parting kick, with as much strength as I could muster, and ran out of the house. Pex didn't come after me. Probably afraid I was going to hurt him more. I smiled, reliving the events of that night in my head as I ran._

Pex was the last guy who ever abused me. He was the guy before the Hillmans. It was a night I wanted to relive, yet not relive. I spent two weeks out on the streets before going to the S.S. again. Max wasn't as bad as the rest of them, he just made me do a lot of crap for him. And I did get to go to school when I lived with him, sometimes, at least. He always just threw me into a room and slipped food into a little slot through the door every once in a while.But Max was my first abuser, so he was a bit traumatic for me.

I got out of bed and looked at the clock. 3 in the morning. Oh well. I knew I could not go to sleep. Not after dreaming that. I considered going to Jeremie's room, but I listened at the door and heard him talking to Aelita. I didn't want to interrupt. I crept further down the hall, and found Odd and Ulrich's room. I walked in, surprised by how loud Odd snores.

I smiled, and shook him. "Odd, Odd! Wake up," I said. He sat up, abruptly.

"What? What? Is it XANA?" he asked.

"No, I just... Had another dream," I whispered, looking down. Odd smiled sadly, and put a hand on my shoulder. He looked over at Ulrich.

"Let's go to your room, okay?" he said to me, getting up and walking out. He was wearing a simple white t-shirt that showed his chest very nicely, and purple pajama bottoms. I smiled. He will never give up purple.

He kept a protective hand on my shoulder as we went back, and we sat down on my bed. I told him my dream. By the time I finished, we were both smiling.

"You got away with justice. You got away the way so many other kids had dreamt about, but never had the guts to do it. Is, is that really happened?"

I smiled and nodded my head. "Mm-hm."

Odd laughed. "Good for you, Cali!"

My eyes still held fear. I was always afraid he'd find me and seek revenge for what I did to him. Odd sensed that, and he put his hands on my shoulders. "It's over now, Cali. Remember that. He doesn't know you're here."

I knew that, but I was still SO scared, and I buried my face into his chest, letting myself break down in front of him. The last thing I saw before I fell asleep was a few tears escape from his eyes, but he still kept a reassuring embrace on me.

**.:Odd's POV:.**

"Odd, Odd, wake up!" I batted at the person in front of me.

"Just one more hour, please," I pleaded.

"Yeah, right. Get your lazy butt _up!_" I felt the covers being pulled off me, and I shivered. One eye opened, and I looked around the bland room. For a moment I questioned myself to find out why I was in here, but then I remembered last night. I remember Cali falling asleep on me. I know I should've put her back on here bed and crept back, but it was like there was this invisible force around me, and I couldn't leave.

"Fine!" I said. Cali was wearing a blue tank top with pink pajama bottoms. She looked so... so good in them. I shook the thought out of my head. She was my _friend_. Jeremie would kill me if he figured out I had the hotts for Cali.

"He wakes up!" said an exasperated Cali. "Now if you excuse me, I have to get changed, and you, you have to leave!" she said, pushing me out of the room. A few kids were leaving their rooms, fully clothed, mind you, and were looking at me weirdly.

"What? You've never seen a guy in pajamas before?" I asked, and the kids scampered away. I walked into my room.

"Where've you been?" asked Ulrich, pulling on his green overshirt.

I grabbed my outfit and began dressing. "Cali's. She, uhh... had a bad dream last night."

"Okay, whatever floats your boat. But when Jeremie finds out, you're a dead man."

I laughed. "All right. I'll see what I can do to change his mind." I made my way down to eat breakfast. "Mmm! Burned toast! My favorite!" A few kids looked at me like I was crazy as I passed, but I just grinned and hopped into my seat.

Jeremie came next, followed by Cali and Ulrich. Yumi came last. She was breathless. "Sorry I'm here so late, I got my mom to make muffins for us, to give us a little break from the food." We all whooped and took our muffins eagerly. I saw a lot of jealous students looking at us. What? They weren't going to have my muffins!

I hated math class. Why must it be so boring? But Cali seemed to be enjoying herself. There she was, doing all the problems with such swift speed, and then looks over to see how much I had done.

She shook her head, again. "Odd! A + B does not equal AB! It equals A + B! Really, Odd, that's one of the most basic rules of algebra! Here, give it to me!" she said, grabbing my paper and looking over my problems, then doing them and showing how to do it front of me. But I still didn't understand half of it. Most of the time I was looking at her hair, and smelling that soap.

"Odd! _Odd!_ Come on, pay attention," hissed Cali. I had began daydreaming again. There was no way I could sit this close to her and not think about her.

"All right, all right." I said groggily. "But why?"

"Because you're going to fail, and there's a test tomorrow," she whispered.

I sat up straighter. "Crap! I didn't even take one note!"

"Relax," said Cali, holding up a sheet of paper. "I've got them right here."

I hugged her. "You're becoming the new Jeremie!" I exclaimed as I pulled back.

She stopped grinning. "Is- is that a good thing?" she asked cautiously.

"Yes!" I said smiling. She smiled, back. And then the bell rang.

**.:Cali's POV:.**

"That math exam's gonna be a piece of cake," I told Odd as we were walking to lunch.

"You have to help me study Cali, maybe you can devise a method of explaining it to me so I can actually understand it," Odd pleaded.

I smiled. "Well aren't we daring today? Does your brain hurt from using all those big words?"

Odd responded by smacking me in the back of the head. I began to chase him around the courtyard, papers flying out of kid's hands and curses muttered as our feet got a little too close to their work.

A man, tall and lean but very muscular came into view. He was wearing a suit. I stopped dead. Odd came over to me. "What's wrong?" he asked with the same eyes I had seen that evening he told me he understood. I had come to call those eyes, the Serious Eye.

"P-P-P-P-Pex," I stuttered. Odd looked at the man I was pointing to, and put his hands on my shoulders to stop my shuddering. He knew he was the guy I had stood up to. My worst fear was happening. If Odd wasn't holding me at this exact moment, I would've fainted.

"Maybe he won't notice you," said Odd, as we dived behind foliage.

"Yeah, for now. But he's probably a new teacher here, and I don't know how long I can hide," I said. We came to the doors of the cafeteria. Odd opened it, almost pushing me in.

"California? Is that you?" boomed a mockingly sweet voice.

I winced, turning. "Yeah, it's me, Pex," I said with cold eyes.

Pex smiled. "What are the odds that you'd be here, California! It is quite pleasant to see you," he said in the horrible sweet voice. His eyes were murderous. I could see the boils on his skin, still there, and couldn't help but smile. Inside, that is. I kept a straight face though I was scared.

"Likewise." Odd put a protective arm around me.

"Come on, Cali, before this gets ugly." I nodded, letting him guide me, feeling faint again.

"I'm not finished talking with you, California!" boomed Pex. I winced involuntarily. It was his regular voice. The one he used before he tortured me.

I turned, shaking Odd's arm off me. "Well, I am!" I yelled defiantly. He wasn't my guardian anymore. But I was still scared.

He came towards me menacingly. "You'll finish talking when I say you're finished talking!" He boomed, throwing a punch to my chin. I flew back.

"Hey now!" yelled Odd, standing in front of me.

"Ah, so you have your pathetic little boyfriend protect you, huh?" asked Pex, looking at Odd as if he was barely a threat.

"You'll pay for hurting Cali," said Odd. He jumped over to the man, and punched him in the eye. Pex fell back, startled. Odd stood over him. "Hurt her again and there will be more where that came from," he said.

"Mr. Della Robbia!" yelled Principle Delmas as he looked at the teacher, bloodied, as they all were. "Never in my years have I seen a student hit a teacher!"

Odd looked back at me, and gave the principle only a glance. "Are you all right?" he asked, kneeling to pick me up.

"I will be. It's just... It's been a while. I'm tough, I really am," but I didn't feel it.

Odd laughed. "Yes, you are, Cali. Don't you ever forget it," he held me in his arms.

"Where do you think you're going?" asked the principle.

Odd turned. "To the infirmary," he said, and walked on.

"Oh no you're not! You're coming with me!" Principle Delmas scolded. He snapped at the nearest kid. "Get the girl. Take her to the infirmary. Mr Dinoh, I expect you can bring your self there?" the man nodded and picked himself up.

"But Cali-"

"Rest assured, she'll be fine." said the principle, grabbing Odd's arm. "Now come with me, right this instant.

I saw Odd look back, giving me a reassuring smile. And I let myself be carried to the infirmary.

**.:Odd's POV:.**

"I just cannot believe this!" ranted Principle Delmas. Leave it to him to take the teacher's side. Like he'd ever listen to my story.

"Then how do you suppose Cali was hurt?" I asked. The principle paused. He knew I had a point.

"That is beside the matter! We could have a lawsuit on our hands, just think of how much bad publicity this school would get!"

There he went again. Thinking of himself instead of the safety of one of his students. I shook my head in disgust.

"I should at least get a fair trial!" I burst out.

The principle turned. "A fair trial? A fair trial? I see you punch a teacher and you want a fair trial?" he lowered his head in thought for a moment. "All right, Odd. You have yourself a fair trial. Shall you find a lawyer yourself, I should I appoint you one?"

I smiled. "I think I can scrounge up myself a lawyer."

"Good, good. You may leave now. Your punishment will be left in the fate of the trial," He said.

I turned to leave. "Oh, and Odd?"

"Yes?"

"I really hope you know what you're doing."

"Not to worry, Principle Delmas," I said, pulling myself into a salute. "I do."

I met Cali and the others at the benches int the park. Cali had an ice pack on her chin, but she was fine. I knew she was. She went through a lot worse.

"So, Jeremie. Feel like playing the lawyer?"

He looked up, giving me a skeptical look. "Why?"

"I've got a trial tomorrow night, and I know you'd make a good lawyer."

Jeremie thought for a moment. "All right, I guess I owe you since you helped out Cali."

"Thanks Jeremie! But, I would've done it even if she wasn't your sister." Jeremie gave me a look.

"Well, then I've got to find witnesses, and I'll need a full account from you about what happened, Odd," said Jeremie, getting down to business.

"No problem, Jeremie!" I then walked over to Cali and put my arm around her. "If you... you know, come to me. I'll be there," I whispered to her.

Cali smiled and nodded. "I will." I got up and turned to leave. I was hungry, I missed lunch! "Oh, and Odd!"

I turned, smiling. "Yes, Cali?"

"Thanks."

I smiled. "That's what I'm here for!" And then I turned. The image of her burned into my mind. Even with her chin bruised and bloody, she was still beautiful, and I don't know how long I could go with just being her friend.

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**That's it, guys! The fifth chapter! Sorry it took SO long to update. But I promise I'll make it up. I'll continue the next one real soon, I promise!**

**Here's some thanks to my faithful reviewers:**

**American-Kitty:** Heheh, yeah. I do believe that Odd has a soft side, and what's better than having two teens, both who had been abused, comfort each other? It also makes for great romance... Oops! Spoiler! lol

**Renayumi:** Really what? Uhhhh... Thanks?

**Yumi Stern:** Yes, I guess they would, huh? I'll be sure to incorporate that into the story! But you'll see why later!

**Angels 'n Dreams:** Well, that's exactly what my sister said, that she couldn't picture Odd in a situation like it, either, but I have to put it into the story! For... future references, of course. And yes, I like twists, don't you?

**CrazyCreator33:** It's nice to know you like my other fics! And yes, I like this one a whole lot better, too! And thanks for the ideas! If I use them, and that's an _if,_ I'll be sure to credit you for it!

**Aliice:** Aliice, Aliice, Aliice, what _shall_ I do with you? lol! Thanks for the JxA fluff! I honestly do appreciate it! But you must update! Since I have, it's only fair that you do too... lol

**Thanks for all the reviews! And I'm gonna give you a poll so it's more interesting for you to review, and you'll actually be helping me out! What would you do if no one took your side of a lawsuit case seriously?**

**All right, now, you must review! Nope, and no spoiler this time. It's up to you to see if you want to read more. Review, and I shall update. Don't review and I shan't. Scooby Snacks for all if you review!**

**Aelitagurl out**


	6. Jump On the Rope And Slide Deeper

**New chapter! Hooray! Aren't you just so proud of me? I got it up so soon! (For me that is...) I don't own Code Lyoko. Okay, on with the story!**

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I was shaking again. Great. Even though my entire body was covered in sweat, I was chilled to the bone. Funny how fear can do that to you. Pex was here. At my school. No doubt he was scheming a way to kill me. And if any of my friends got in his way... I couldn't think about that. We already had enough on our plates. What with XANA and everything. But I was doing good for the world. It pained me to know that I was saving Pex's ass all the time.But then again, what could I do? It's not like there was a little choice thing where I could select who got killed and who didn't. And Jeremie would be appalled.

After all, Odd was the only one who knew of my past. And I was pretty sure I was the only one who knew of his.I was the only one at school who didn't complain. They didn't even have chores! Well, besides keeping their room relatively clean and the bathrooms clean too. I walked into the bathrooms. It was late, and there was no one in there. Perfect. I could take my shower without waiting in line. When I finished that, I pulled on my pajamas, brushed my teeth and washed my face. Usually, I did this in a rush, but now I did it delicately. I had the time now. I didn't have to sneak myself through any of this. Hoping I wouldn't get caught. That was all over now.

I had spent the day with Yumi and Aelita in Lyoko. There weren't monsters to fight, nor were there any threats to the destruction of this world. Yumi and I decided to have a girls day and hang with each other in Lyoko. That place is so vast.Not to mention empty. I don't know how Aelita could live such an isolated life. She just smiled and told me Remie was always there when she needed him. Yumi and I neglected to tell her the fact that he was always there for her was because he loved her. I think Remie will tell her that himself. If he ever stops being such a coward.

Yumi and I sparred with each other there. She was pretty good, but I blocked all but five of her blows and threw her down three times. She was amazed and asked where I got my training. I just told her that I had picked it up. Which was part of the truth. I had to teach myself. To be able to defend myself from... _them._

I walked into my room. It was so bland. Not even a poster to spruce it up. I remember the look on Odd's face when he saw this room. He then realized how far in I was. That he'd have to have a pretty strong rope and go real deep to get me out. A normal friend would never notice what you were hiding. A true friend would figure it out and _try_ to help you. Only the best of friends would jump in with you. Which is exactly what Odd was doing. He didn't sympathize, he empathized. He had been through it. He knew.

And that night, he had just jumped in even further...

**.:Odd's POV:.**

I strolled through the halls. I couldn't get to sleep. And a stroll through the chilly hallways would always calm me and get me thinking. My footsteps were muffled by the carpet. No one was out on patrol. And why would they be? None of the students had ever snuck out of the school before. I was pretty sure I was the only one who ever went out this late in the night-time. With the exception of nature's calling, of course. But that was not why I was out here. My thoughts began to turn to Cali. _Again._ Seeing her face when she realized Pex was here, it made me want to kill that man. She had told me of the pain he had put her through.

At the same time, I kind of wished I never had met Cali. She brought back so many painful memories for me. When she broke down, I did too. I remembered my mother throwing punches this way and that. All those chores. And the cooking oil...

I shook my head. It was all over now. After an effort of not getting arrested, she sent me here, with a big bundle of money. I remembered her cold words exactly, that day she had left me, and I had met my first, true friend.

**.:Flashback:.**

I was nine years old. We were in a car of luxury. Black leather seats and so very spacious. She was staring at me coldly with pursed lips. We had finally stopped, and she pulled me out of the car with her. A social service woman was standing nearby, out of earshot. Mother had pulled me into what looked like a loving hug, but it really was to whisper cold words to me.

"You got me in trouble, boy!" she spat. "And now I have to spend money on you! Uggh, no more pretty outfits. And who will be my new maid? God knows I'll have to _pay _one..."

I struggled to get out of the hug, with no success. She shoved a bag of money at me. "That should do you!" she looked at the bag longingly. Like she had just lost another Gucci dress. "Don't ever come back. I don't want you. You are nothing but a mistake. And I hope you have that stuck in your mind good and clear. Because if you're a nobody to your own mother, than you're a nobody true to the word!"

The social service woman perked up. "Good bye, love!" said mother in such a false voice, it sickened me. Before she let me go, she struck my stomach. There were bruises trying to heal there. I winced for a fraction of a second. Then she half pushed me away and climbed back into the car, looking at me with one last icy glare.

The nice S.S. woman led me into the school gates. "You're already registered here, Oswald, dear. Be good!" I smiled. For a few moments I wished she were my mother. How I wanted one who actually cared for me!

"Thanks for everything, Miss Jenna," I said politely.

She pulled me into a hug. "It's been quite a tussle, Oswald, but I believe I've freed you. You're free now, sweet!" she whispered into my ear.

"It took long enough," I said. She laughed and fixed my shirt. I was wearing purple. Something she had given me, matter of fact. "You'll always be a mother to me," I said absent mindedly.

I saw her wipe tears from her eyes. "And I will be. Sometime soon, Odd." I smiled. I remember when she used to take me in for an hour every school day to give me food and to rub ointment on my many bruises. We'd talk, and she'd always tell me I'd say the oddest things. And that was when she began calling me Odd.

"Bye Miss Jenna," I whispered softly.

"Good bye, Odd." she handed me a package. "It's some clothes. I got you purple ones. I know you'd like that."

I smiled and we hugged for the last time. "Thank you! I'll always keep it with me!"

Jenna pulled away, letting go of the only boy she'd ever think of as a son in all her years of her work.

I walked up to bay clad in green. "Hi."

He turned around, startled. He had been doing school work. "Hello. You must be new," he said. He stood up. "They told me I'd be getting a room-mate. Maybe you're it." He held out his hand. "I'm Ulrich."

"Odd," I said shaking his hand. I didn't want to be known as Oswald. So Jenna's nickname stuck.

Ulrich laughed. "That's a funny name, but I like it."

**.:End Flashback:.**

I'd find her, too. Every summer I'd go to a relative's, but I'd always hoped I'd find Jenna and we'd live together. But it seemed like such a childish fantasy now. It had been years. She'd have forgotten all about me and have children of her own, no doubt.

But still, I kept thinking to myself if she had taken me in, and we'd live together, I her child, and she would be my mother. I remember opening the canvas bag and finding at least three hundred 1000 dollar bills**A/N: Don't know if there's such a thing, but go along with it, okay?**. Yeah, my family was incredibly rich. That much money would have lasted my mother a month. It was the reason she had married my father, so she could have all the money she carried for.

But my dad found it horribly hard to get along with the woman, and he never wanted to disgrace the family name by divorcing her, and so he went off on "business" most of the year and was only home for a month at most. So that was when the abusing began. For some reason she thought it was me that kept my father away and she punished me all the time she got. And when Dad _was _home she'd never let me go near him. So I'd stand near the door and listen to their conversations. I remember what she had said once...

**.:Flashback:.**

"Don't worry, dear. I made sure Oswald won't get in your way. I made it just so that we could spend the entire weekend together!" I could hear my father groan. I could hear shiftment. Then my father mumbled something about wanting some water, and he came into my room, I was breathless from standing in front of the door.

I thought he could tell "I was doing a naughty" as my mother so fittingly called it, and that he was going to beat me. I put my arms up in defensive mode and waited for the thrashes, but they didn't come.

He had picked me up in his arms, careful not to hurt all my previous bruises and examining some particular nasty ones I had gotten that day for not cleaning fast enough for his arrival. He looked at me with a sad look in his eyes. "You didn't do anything to cause me to leave." He said after a moment. "It was your damned mother."

I gasped. My mother was damned? Who would've known? Although, I knew there must've been something wrong with her, but I chose to ignore it. She was mother after all, maybe if not a loving one that I had so wished for.

"She hurts you, doesn't she? Beats you after you don't do what she says?"

I nodded, and added, "She huts me even when I _do_ do what she says. And during, as well." I slapped a hand to my mouth. "Don't tell her I said that," I squeaked. He sighed.

"Little Ozzy, I won't. You have to know, it's not you who's driven me out of here, it's your mother. Learn to fight back. Don't be the coward I am and run away." With that he gave me a hug, put me gently back on the bed, and left the room.

**.:End Flashback:.**

The next morning he had gone, and mother was a mess. She ordered me around and beat me even more than usual. And she got even more violent as time progressed. I had always had a blossoming hate in my gut towards my father ever since he left. He sure was a damn coward. He left all his problems instead of facing them. But what made me hate him the most is that he expected me to give him pride. Well let him be damned to hell. What happened to me after he left, it was something even words couldn't fathom. He never took me with him. It almost made me feel as low as mother. But something in my gut always kept me from feeling sorry for myself and giving in.

So anyways, I strolled along the hall, totally oblivious to where I was, until I heard sobbing, quite loud sobbing, actually, and I proceeded to the source.

Which happened to be Cali's bedroom. Oh. I couldn't just go barging in there. What if she was like, just wearing a bra and underwear or something? Not that I wouldn't mind seeing her in that... I shook my head a little and continued to stare at the door. I couldn't not wake her. I wouldn't do it. But I couldn't barge in, either... This was beginning to wear me out. My overwhelming want to help her overcame my common sense, and I strode into the room. Which was unlocked. I'd have to talk to her about that. Especially since Pex is on the loose.

She was entangled in the bedclothes and moaning: "Please, I swear I'll never do it again!" I tried to grab her hand, and she slapped it away. I stood there, transfixed for a moment. She was thrashing about on her bed, but her hair fell all around her head. I shook my head. No, it's not right...

"No! Don't hurt him! He never did that to you! It was me! Leave them all alone and take me instead!"

"Cali, Cali! Wake up..." She thrashed even more violently and began whimpering. I climbed into her bed and put my hands on her upper arms.

Her eyes fluttered open, and she looked around, and looked at herself, then I felt her relax. "It was all a bad dream..." I heard her mutter. Then her eyes fell upon me. "Umm, Odd? What are you doing here? On my bed?"

I quickly let go of her, blushing furiously and climbing off her bed. She laughed. "You were... I heard you... I wasn't trying to-"

"It's fine, Odd. I'm flattered you came to help me." I let out a relieved breath. I knew how bad a girl's anger could get.

"Uh, you're welcome, then."

"You're something else, Odd. Come over here," she laughed, patting a spot on her bed. I sat, and began to question her about her dream.

She sighed. "Nightmares, as of Late, Odd. I don't know what to do. Even when I didn't have something to worry about, I still worried. And now I do... And it hurts a lot, Odd."

My hand wandered to her chin, gently caressing it. "I bet it would."

She grabbed my hand and gave me a piercing gaze. "Not that Odd. Inside..." She averted her gaze.

"I know what you mean, Cali. I want you to know I'm as far deep in this as you are, now..." I recalled the events of just a few hours ago, and the trial was coming up. "I want you to know that I'll do all I can to help."

She looked back at me. She was so close. Her hands were on mine, and it would've been such an easy feat for me to put my lips on hers. It was still taking all my willpower to keep myself from not kissing her.

"Cali! What's going on? I thought I heard you..." He stared us. The position we were in, it looked pretty, shall we say... close. We sprang apart, blushing furiously.

"I'm fine now, Remie," said Cali softly.

"Sorry to interrupt, sis. I didn't want to-"

"We weren't!" I said standing up. Jeremie turned to me with an evil glare. I turned to Cali. "In order for him to present a good case, we have to tell him," I said to Cali. She only nodded, looking at anything but me.

"Tell me what? Oh God! You haven't! No no no no. Please-"

**.:Cali's POV:.**

"Relax, Remie! It's got nothing to do with us! Not that there even _is_ an us..." Even Remie could hear the disappointment in my voice.

I looked at Odd. There, I had just hinted at wanting to be with him. He had traces of a goofy smile plastered all over his face. But I don't think he'd ever show that to Remie. He touched my arm. "It's all right, I'm here," he whispered. I was the only one who heard it.

I looked at Remie, who was closing the door. Then he turned on the light. Odd and I began talking of my past, just the parts that absolutely needed to be said. And it was only my past. I don't think it was necessary for Remie to know about his. Which was fine with me.

It had been an hour, and Remie had left, explaining that he needed a bit more time to take it all in. So Odd was left in my bedroom, still very red.

I was still explaining my dream to him, and he was holding me in his strong embrace like he always did. And he began telling me more about his past. I soaked all the information in, and I was still sniffling.

"It must be so hard, Odd. It was your own mother that did those things to you!" He only shook his head.

"I have a mother, but it's not her." I looked up at him.

"You mean Jenna?"

He nodded his head. She had been the only person I ever considered a mother. He wiped the tears off my face with his thumbs. "Come now, you mustn't cry about my past. It's yours we should be dealing about.

I shook my head. "No, it's both of ours, Odd."

We were so close again. I could feel Odd stiffen, but he still wouldn't let go. Which was fine with me. "I mean, you haven't totally gotten over it. And neither have I." I paused for a moment. He had a faraway look in his eyes. Again. "But we can get through it together."

**.:Odd's POV:.**

She was still crying. I was doing all I could to have her stop. I hated it when I saw her so sad like this. We had three lives, it seemed. Our saving-the-world lives, our normal-teenager lives. But we also had the life full of pain. The one behind the mask. We had built a wall around all three, separating them and not let one life penetrate into another. It was hard work, and it took a lot of concentration.

But now Cali's wall between normal teenager and the pain filled one was crumbling now that was Pex was here. And because Cali was here, so was mine. But my wall is taking longer because I've had years to build it. Cali hastily stacked the bricks together, without much plaster.

It was taking everything I had not to kiss her. Sure, many girls knew me as Odd, desperate lady getter. But Cali was different. She was so vulnerable right now. I couldn't. I'd feel unloyal to myself, and to Jeremie. He was one of my best friends. And I was in his sister's bedroom, alone, at night. And I was so very attracted to her.

I did the only thing my mind could think of at the moment. I jumped up. She looked so surprised, she fell back, onto her bed. "This... This isn't right, Cali. I can't." I rushed out of the room and through the halls into mine. Ulrich didn't stir, I didn't expect him to. He had those earplugs.

Cali didn't come after me. I wouldn't come after me, either.

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**So now there's all this hullaballo about how I can't respond to the reviewers anymore. I personally don't like the rule, but I like this site a lot and I'm becoming dependent on it for all my crazy fanatic needs. But I really do appreciate the reviews, it keeps this story going.**

**This chapter ended up being a filler chapter. Oh well. I thought maybe you'd like to know a bit about Odd's past. So give it to you! Heheh. Please review! **

**Aelitagurl out**


	7. A Fall Into The Sewer

**Okay, you know I don't own Code Lyoko, so why even ask? Gee, seven chapters! This is my first multi chaptered fic, so this is a great accomplishment for me. But I'm not gonna make you sit here and listen to my life. Here's the next chappie!**

**A/N:** I changed Cali's appearance a bit. Now she wears a pink camisole that goes down to mid-stomach, with a see-through blue long sleeved over shirt. She wears a pink and black plaid skirt . Also, I've changed her Lyoko powers. Now she controls the electricity, and has a cable, which is used as a whip that is nestled in her belt. She can also throw electricity into the ground as her power, but it drains fifty of her lifepoints(This was such a spur of the moment thing, and comes in real handy... you'll see)

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I walked into my room with a bloody nose. Pex was at it again. He cornered me in the woods near the sewer hole while I was about to go to the factory to get away from him. Did me in with only a bloody nose this time. Who knew what horrors he would've done to me if I was still living with him!

Odd was making such a fuss over everything. Not to mention that every night that I have been here it seemed, that I was in his arms, the both of us crying about our pasts. He had only just recently told me of his past. And it left me horrified. His own mother beat him! Granted, I had never met mine, but I would have felt like such a horrible person if my own mother beat me and treated me with utmost disgust. And when I told him this, he just said he never considered her a mother and stroked my hair.

And that's what gets me so mad! He treats me like I'm his little sister! If I wanted someone to comfort me and stroke my hair and whatnot, I would've called upon Remie. I cannot believe, that even now, he doesn't know that I like him a lot more than just a friend. I would think he thought the same, but he never lets on.

"Hey Cal, me and the others were-" I turned to him, letting my handkerchief covered in blood fall with my hand to the bed. "HE HIT YOU?" He quickly came over and took the kerchief, mopping it on my nose. I slapped his hand away.

"I'm _fine_, Odd. I'm not a baby anymore. I can wipe up my own nose," I snapped. Odd looked taken aback for a moment, but regained himself. He left the room, and appeared two minutes later with a bag of ice.

"Smuggled it from the kitchens," he said proudly. But instead of putting it gently on my nose, he handed it to me and took the kerchief and threw it in the garbage. "Now, tell me what happened."

I could tell he hated being in here. And for that matter, so did I. The walls were so bland, and the place reminded me of a hospital room. Which it was kind of becoming. Thanks to Pex. But the thing is, Odd would spend fifteen hours in here at one time just for me. I know he would. So it makes me think just how much he liked me...

"Hello Cali? EARTH TO CALI!" yelled Odd as he waved a hand in front of my face, pulling me out of my reverie.

"Huh? What?" I jumped a little. "Oh- well, he sort of just... cornered me, I guess. I was off to the factory, to get away from him, nonetheless, and hit me in the nose before I could properly defend myself. But I threw a kick at him, which caught him off balance, and I ran back here." Odd looked at me with a suspicious look on his face, like I was leaving something out. Which I wasn't! "Surely he wouldn't come back here, would he? I mean, what would the other teachers think of him if he was seen walking out of the dormitories, with blood all over him. Because there is no way I'm going to let him beat me without a-"

"Whoa, Cali. He won't come here." He looked around him apprehensively. He was convincing himself as well as me! "But, let's go hang out at the factory just in case. Maybe we can get a little practice in at Lyoko." His voice lowered a little. "That is, if you're feeling up to it," he added.

He was eyeing my nose. I stood up. "Of course I'm up to it! What? You think I'm going to let a little bruise ruin my life?" He was being as stubborn as ever, still acting like my big brother, and not letting a single bad thing happen to me.

Odd smiled. "I know a lot of girls that would make it just that."

I came up to him, grabbing his collar playfully and pushing my face further into his. "Well, I'm not like all the other girls."

I could see his face reddening, his eyes widened, and that large swallow. Had I pushed it? Had I gone too far? Had I scared him off?

**.:Odd's POV:.**

How did we end up like this? Cali's lips were just inches from mine. Oh dear. Do not kiss her. Don't. You can't. But... those lips look so soft...

But, as luck would have it, Cali pulled away and grabbed her backpack just as I was leaning in.

"Well, come on then," said Cali, pausing at her doorway. Her nose was still tender and I could tell she was breathing out of her mouth to avoid pain. Damn you, Pex. You broke her nose! "But we should sneak into the kitchens fist, we probably won't be here for dinner. I talked to Remie earlier. He headed off to the factory to work some more on Aelita's materialization program. So... Let's go!"

We stopped by the kitchens, where Cali stuffed her empty backpack full of food, and headed to the factory. She had brought more than enough food for the three of us, but I did not question her actions. We came to the sewer hole, which Cali uncovered with a grunt, and climbed down.

I had a surprise down there for her. When I was coming to her room earlier, I was going to get her to come, so she could see my little surprise. And considering the squeal of delight, she liked her little present. I jumped off the last rung and looked at her. She held the skateboard in her arms, cradling it just a fraction of a bit. I knew she didn't have much, and was very touchy when people gave things to her.

But I sighed with much relief when she turned to me, deciding that it was not out of charity but out of something else entirely, and said, "Thanks Odd. I needed one of these."

I laughed. "You're welcome. I hoped you'd like it."

"You know what this means, don't you?"

I nodded. "Of course I do. Ladies first."

Cali shook her head. "Don't pull the gentleman crap on me. If anyone needs the head start, it'll be you."

I laughed. "So sure of yourself, are you?" I saw Cali's lighthearted nod. "On three then."

"One," said Cali.

"Two," said I.

"THREE!" The word echoed off the rounded walls of the sewers, and in a blur, we were off. Cali seemed to approve of her new skateboard, for she skated on the skateboard as if they were as one, and seemed to be in the lead, with apparent ease.

I must confess, that in a last attempt to win, I stuck my board out in an angle in such a way, as to thwart off Cali's access and declare myself the winner. But Cali noticed this, and swerved over so much that she toppled into the water. I stopped, and laughed at her disheveled appearance.

She smiled. "Haha, now are you going to offer me your hand?"

I put my hand to my chin and mocked thinking. I extended my hand towards hers, and she grabbed my arm, pulling me in as well.

"Heheh, you didn't think _that_ was gonna happen, now did you? No!" We sat there laughing at our predicament. If it had been any other girl, she would have been reprimanding me for such childish behavior. Had it been any other girl, she would not be skateboarding. But also, had it been any other girl, she would not be down here.

Cali got herself up and offered me her hand. I ignored it and got myself up. "Like I'm gonna fall for that one again," I told her. She laughed.

"Slowly and painfully, he becomes a genius!" She picked up her skateboard and set it near the ladder, and clasped the rung. She decided better of it the last minute, though, and said, "after you, Odd."

There's no denying it, I would have looked up her skirt had she gone before me. I blushed a little, but grabbed the rung and climbed up. I helped her out of the hole as we ran though the bridge to the opening of the factory. We swung down the ropes and into the elevator. Cali just smiled, I could tell she was always happy to be around friends, and even though usually going to the factory meant mortal peril, she liked coming here anyways.

We came to the Super Computer, Jeremie was sitting there heavy at work typing and working more on the anti-virus program. He looked up when we entered. Cali walked over to him.

"Hey Remie," she said ruffling up his hair a bit and going a little near the wall to drop off her backpack. "Whew, that's heavy."

"What's in it?" asked Jeremie.

Cali walked over to him and straightened out his collar. "_Food,_ Remie." He nodded his head, and hit her playfully in the face as to get her to stop playing around with him.

Cali stumbled back, holding her nose in her hands, fresh and bloody agin. I moved swiftly and caught her before she tripped over the cords. Jeremie looked mortified, and flew out of his chair and looked at her. Cali was slightly whimpering.

"Oops, I don't even know my own strength. Sorry Cali. I really am."

"Don't flatter yourself, Jeremie. Pex did this a little earlier," I said to him.

Cali straightened, and I went to her backpack and fetched a cold Coke. "Here, Cali. Use this. But that's your Coke."

Cali smiled and chuckled a little, holding the can to her face. Jeremie was still looking pale. Then he noticed our smell and wrinkled his nose. What happened? Did you fall into the sewer?"

Cali and I looked at each other, then laughed. "Yeah. A little skateboarding... accident." I rummaged through the pack and found a few napkins, throwing them to Cali, who caught them and began mopping up her nose gingerly. I knew Jeremie was thinking the same thing I was. How strong she was.

But Cali didn't like us thinking about her, and looked over at the computer, engaging into a loud conversation with Aelita who had just appeared. That seemed to bring Jeremie out of his reverie, and he assumed his customary spot at the seat in front of the Super Computer.

"Hello Odd, Cali. What brings you here?"asked Aelita.

"Odd and I are gonna virtualize and train for a bit," said Cali. She then went to the backpack still open and clasped it closed. "We'll come back to eat in half an hour. DON'T EAT ANY, EITHER, REMIE!"

I laughed. "But why? There's more than enough for all of us," I said.

"No there isn't, I brought a dinner for Aelita, too. Assuming that she wants to join us."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jeremie's face break out into a silly smile. Cali was good. She knew that Jeremie would never ask Aelita to come to Earth by himself, and Cali was just pushing them into the right direction.

"Really? Oh Jeremie, you're going to materialize me tonight? I can hardly wait!"

Jeremie blushed a little and made a giddy laugh. "That's not all, Aelita! All day I've been working on a program that detects towers on my laptop so you can stay here full time!"(1) Cali and I looked at each other. We could tell that Jeremie had been bursting to say this, and was probably just about to when we burst in.

Jeremie turned to us. "So you guys have a bit of a different purpose this time. Aid Aelita to the tower so we can-"

"But Jeremie," I interrupted. "Don't you remember that the time traveled back in time and that Jim or Headmaster Delmas doesn't even know about Aelita?"

Jeremie just smiled at me. "Of course I do, Odd. I took the liberty of hacking into the school's computers and creating a false identity for Aelita. You still have that forged note, do you not?"

I nodded. "Then it's all set. We'll bring her in tonight and you give the note to the Headmaster. I know he's expecting her." Jeremie swivelled on his chair and faced Aelita again. "Odd and Cali are on their way."

**.:Cali's POV:.**

Odd and I stepped back into the elevator. Odd saw me smiling. "What?" he asked in a half-laugh.

"Remie's SO blind. He keeps on doing all this stuff for Aelita when he can't even see that Aelita is already SO impressed by him." I answered.

Odd laughed, too, getting out of the elevator and stepping into his scanner. He saw me grimace before stepping into mine. "I doubt you'll pass out again, Cali. We're not even under a XANA attack," he comforted.

I smiled. "It's just paranoia. Silly, I know." The scanners closed on us before any other words could be exchanged. I counted to five, and breathed a sigh of relief as I felt the rush of air go through me and then I felt nothing.

I landed with a catlike grace in the forest region, where Odd was getting up. He came over to me. "Here's a nice welcome to Lyoko, Cali. At least you're not in a guardian this time."

I laughed. "Yeah. At least." I pulled out the cable from my belt, alert. "Got our rides ready, Remie?"

"Sure do, hold on a moment." said Remie. There was typing, and then our vehicles materialized in front of us. Odd got on his Overboard, Aelita got on her Overwing, and I got on my Overboard. It was blue, and has a little cable design on the edges. I jumped on mine.

"Another race?" asked Odd.

"Ho ho, you bet!" I said.

Aelita laughed. "You two will never stop joking, will you?"

I looked over at Odd. He looked back over at me and smiled a goofy smile. "You don't even know the half of it!" he said, speeding up. We flew through the forest region, Aelita closely following on our tails. I was gaining headway, this time there was no sewer to fall in. I could finally win.

I looked over at Odd, he was trying hard to catch up with me. "Ha Odd! I finally win!" I yelled. But no more than two seconds after I said that, I ran into a tree. My Overboard devirtualized, and I was left sprawled out on the ground.

Odd laughed, slowing down and coming over to me. He grabbed my hand and pulled me up. "Ouch, you okay?" he asked.

I wasn't mortified. In fact, just the opposite. "Yeah, I am, Odd," I said, not bothering to let my hand out of his grasp. I started laughing with him, and Aelita joined us.

"See, that's why I don't prefer the Overboard. The Overwing is way more safe." said Aelita.

"Watch out guys! A tarantula and a flock of hornets are on their way!" said Jeremie.

"Right," I said. I looked to Odd. "You take the hornets. I'll take the tarantula." He nodded. I looked at Aelita. "You find a place to hide." she nodded, and the monsters arrived.

I faced the tarantula, and caught one of it's lasers on impact. "Urgh!" I grunted, pulling my cable out of my belt and and whipping it at the monster.

**.:Odd's POV:.**

I ran in front of two hornets and got out of the way just in time, their lasers killing each other. Heheh. I was an expert. The other two were not as easily defeated. I got on my Overboard, anfd went up high in the air. I shot two arrows, and they each hit their target. One monster fell to the ground and exploded.

I heard a yelp, and turned, firing off a laser at the Hornet, and it actually caught its target. "Cali!" I yelled, running over to her. I dove in front of her, taking the shot, and then fired three arrows at it, and the monster devirtualized. I turned to Cali.

"I'm fine, Odd. You didn't have to do that. I'm not Aelita." Cali said, a little miffed at me doing what I did. I blushed a little. Thank God we were in Lyoko.

"Okay Aelita, you can go now." She nodded, and she melted into the tower. I turned to Cali, who was rubbing her shoulder absent-mindedly. Those tarantula laser really left you sore. If she had been aware she was doing it, she wouldn't have done it at all.

"You okay?" I asked.

Cali realized what she was doing, and dropped her hand to her side. "Just jolly. This... this is nothing."

And the hell of it is, I _knew_ she was right.

**.:Cali's POV:.**

I held onto the walls of the scanner, and it opened, revealing a concerned Odd. Forgetting his own fatigue, he came over to me and helped me up.

Remie walked in, nervous. He walked over to Yumi's scanner, and it opened. There appeared Aelita.

"Remie!" cried Aelita, pulling him into a tight embrace.

Remie looked shocked, and he blushed. "Hello Aelita."

She pulled away a bit, and looked at him. Then she did something I couldn't believe. Shy and innocent Aelita _kissed_ him(2). She just brought her lips to his just like that. Like it was no big deal. I saw Remie quickly return the kiss, and I stiffened. I looked at Odd, with a perverted grin on his face.

The anger inside me bubbled up to the surface. Remie had _everything!_ He had parents, he had never been abused, and now... Now he had love. Those were all the things _I_ wanted. And I was ashamed of myself for being so jealous and angry at him. It's not like he had wished on those horrible things to happen to me.

I wrenched myself out of Odd's grasp and stormed into the elevator, fuming. As the door closed in front of me, I saw a confused Odd, and Remie and Aelita were still playing tonsil hockey.

* * *

**I noticed I had just had a little teasing in there, but now I want a real fight to erupt between the twins. Heheh.**

**(1):** In the first episode of the second season, Jeremie had created such a program, and I wanted to stay within the lines of the show.

**(2):** In the episode: "Xana's Kiss," Aelita and Jeremie kiss. Thought I'd add it to make it more realistic with the show.

**Now some responses to my faithful reviewers:**

**xnecro:** Thank you. And Hark! I have updated! (Finally...)

**lyoko-is-home:** I'm glad you like my writing style! And yes, Odd and Cali do come from similar backrounds. Does... does your father do that to you?

**American Kitty:** Don't worry, it'll get better for them, I promise.

**Angels 'n Dreams:** It was sad. You'll find out soon enough, though!

**renayumi: **I've updated. Glad you love it.

**Lady Epur Out**(AKA Aelitagurl)


	8. Surveillance

**I don't own it.**

* * *

I looked back at Jeremie and Aelita.

"Odd?" asked Jeremie. "What is wrong with Cali?"

"I... don't know," I responded looking back at the door. Even though I did have a pretty good idea. I headed towards the elevator. "But I'm gonna find out. I'll leave you two alone now."

I saw Jeremie blush and Aelita giggled as the door closed in front of me. When I stepped out of the elevator, I heard sniffling and looked up. In one of the balconies, Cali was sitting with her knees pulled up to her chest, and grimacing. The sniffling was hurting her nose. I could clearly see it.

I decided to be Mr. Stealth and sneak up behind her.

"It's just... I know I shouldn't be crying like this, but I don't know what I did to deserve it!" she berated herself, unaware that anyone was listening.

"I dunno, sure you haven't slashed any police care tires?" I said, coming in front of her.

"Odd!" said Cali, surprised. "How, how long have you been here?"

"Not long." I said, sitting down.

"Do you know why I ran out?"

"I have a pretty good idea."

"I know I shouldn't be jealous of Remie. It's not like he wished it upon me, but... I want to hate him so badly!" said Cali.

"It's not going to do you any good to hate him, and you know it," I said, pulling her chin up with my fingers to look at her.

"I know... but won't you let me, just this once?" she joked.

"No," I laughed. I got up, and offered my hand to help her up.

"It's just that, he has _everything_." said Cali, as we began to descend the stairs. "He has parents."

I nodded, that was one thing I knew Cali wanted, probably more than anything.

"And he was never abused."

There again, another thing that Cali had to go through that Jeremie didn't.

"_And_ he's got Aelita and that's the only thing I-" I saw her blush, and she clamped her lips tightly together.

I stopped. What was she about to say? "What? What's the only thing you want?"

She had stopped, too, but she shook her head. Her face was scarlet.

I pulled her further into my arms. Now we were right in front of the elevator. "You can tell me."

She sighed, maybe from the fact that she was in my arms, or that I was so stubborn. I sincerely hoped the latter. "You," she finally squeaked.

"That gives me permission to kiss you, right?" I asked.

Cali laughed. I had cheered her up immensely, and she was doing the same for me. "If you want to."

I shook my head. "There's nothing I'd rather do more than that." And I took the back of her neck in my hand, put the other securely on her waist, and pressed my lips to hers. I got precisely the same response I had gotten in my dreams, better, even. Her lips were soft, just as I had imagined them, and her body's warmth on mine was so... words couldn't even fathom it.

"I don't know Aelita, hopefully Odd's handling it- Oh my God!"

Cali and I pulled away, looking at Aelita and Jeremie.

"Remie, hey. Odd and I were just-"

"Experimenting, hmm?" asked Jeremie, an amused look playing about his face.

I laughed. "Sure, let's call it that, Jeremie."

**.:Cali's POV:.**

All I have to say is: _FINALLY!_ Who would've known a little Jealousy directed at Remie would've ended with me in Odd's arms, kissing nonetheless? It caused a bit of an uproar, too. When we arrived in the cafeteria holding hands, with Aelita and Remie behind us doing the same. Yumi and Ulrich were happy that Aelita was here, but Ulrich eyed Odd and I's hands and a suspicious look covered his face.

"Aelita! You're here!" screamed Yumi, pulling her best friend into a hug. I laughed at that.

Ulrich just looked at Odd, and said: "What did you guys do in the Factory?"

I blushed. Odd smiled a perverted little grin and said to Ulrich. "A bit of jealousy."

By this time, Sissi had come over, and she was eyeing Aelita. "Who is _that?"_

Remie just smiled ushered her a little closer to Sissi. "This is my girlfriend, Aelita."

"Pleasure to meet you," said Aelita extending a hand and beaming at Remie.

Sissi made a disgusted face. "Ew, you make-out with him?" I looked over to see Yumi and Ulrich's eyebrows raising. They had missed the kiss, er... the kisses. "Well, good luck to you, Mrs. Einstein."

With that, Sissi left, distracted by the notion of the new couple and forgetting her real mission upon coming over to our table.

"Jealousy, huh?" asked Ulrich as we sat down. I picked my bag up and dumped it on the table. Oh well, we'd just all eat together.

"Well yeah," said Odd, reaching over and grabbing my hand. "Cali and I escorted Princess to the materialization tower, and Aelita came over to Earth."

"Then I kissed Jeremie, which of course, I wanted to know how that felt."

Remie blushed. "And was it satisfying?"

"Of course, just like I had dreamed it, even better," said naive Aelita.

"But that me jealous so I ran off-"

"And then I went to off to find her and cheer her up," finished odd, gulping down a Coke.

"And cheer her up you did," said Jeremie.

"Because when we came out of the elevator, there you two were, kissing," concluded Aelita.

"Romance travels fast around this school," Yumi commented.

"Indeed it does," I agreed.

It was Ulrich who put a damper to our happiness. "So Jeremie, any headway on the case?"

I felt Odd stiffen and Remie put down his food. "Well, I may need to get some more evidence..."

"Isn't all the bruises on Cali enough evidence?" said Odd.

"That can easily be explained by the Defense, Odd." said Remie. "No, what I need is to catch him in the act."

Odd turned to me. "Do you mind getting, er... hurt a bit more, Cali?"

I swallowed my food slowly. "If it brings Pex to justice, then I'm all for it."

**.:Next Day:.**

Odd and I seated for our first class of the day, History. Our last teacher had quit just a while ago and refused to say why, so we had a new teacher today. And Odd and I knew exactly who it was.

He walked in through the door, set his briefcase down violently, and turned to the board. He wrote:

_Mr. Dinoh_

He then faced us again. "Hello class, he said in a bass voice. "I am Professor Dinoh, and I am your new History Instructor.

The class, I must confess, was _incredibly_ boring. He read right out of the book in a monotone, and then made us a test for it, which Odd failed, with many colors. I already had background knowledge of this particular part of History, so I scrummaged a low A. The bell finally rang, and it was our last class of the day, so I was looking forward to going out for Ice Cream with Odd later.

"California Hester, I would like a word with you," he said.

I gulped and nodded. Remie gave me the thumbs up sign under his desk, and Odd took hold of my hand.

"This'll be the last time, I promise," he cooed, kissing my forehead and leaving the classroom.

We had come in her at three in the morning. Remie and Aelita set up the cameras, Yumi and Ulrich kept watch, and me and Odd hid all the cables. We were gonna catch him in the act.

He glared at me and come around the front of his desk. "You and that Jeremie are the only ones who got an 'A' on my test. You cheated!"

"How, how could I have, sir?" I asked. "I wasn't even sitting next to Re- that boy and you made the tests this during this lesson."

"I don't know how! You little bitch! You just did, and now, you're going to have to pay." he yelled.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath and then opened them, looking him right in the eye. "I wouldn't do that, sir. You're a teacher and it wouldn't be wise to hit a stu-" I couldn't finish that sentence, because he had punched me in the stomach, and was thrown back into a table.

"Well, no one's here, are there?" He then punched my chin.

"No, sir."

"Now, I've got my chance for sweet revenge," said Pex. "And let me tell you, you better be praying I don't kill you!"

"Won't it look a little suspicious-"

"Do you think I care about this job, you imbecile?" said Pex, throwing a few punches here and there. I barely grimaced, I didn't want to show him I was in pain. "I found out you were here, so I threatened the History Teacher and got the job! Heheh, what a sucker, that Headmaster." He kicked me further into the table. "And you want to know why I came here?"

I shook my head. I really didn't, and I already knew, anyway.

"I'll tell ya regardless!" He came closer than ever now, so that his nose was barely a three centimeters away from mine. "It was to kill you!" he spat, punching me in the nose.

"Ah!" I screamed. It was already tender enough, he just knocked my nose out of the little healing that had progressed.

"Did I hit a tender spot there?"

I just grimaced and whimpered more.

"Good."

I knew that the others were probably using all their strength to restrain Odd from bursting in and killing Pex on the spot.

"I think I'm gonna let you suffer. Then I'll kill ya." He left with one last parting kick, and I was left whimpering.

**.:Odd's POV:.**

"Let me at 'em!" I yelled.

"No, Odd. Just a while longer. You'll mess up the whole thing," said Ulrich, holding me back with the help of Jeremie, Aelita, and Yumi.

"But he's hurting her!" I protested.

"Look, Odd. I want to kill him just as much as you do. All of us do. We don't want this to happen to Cali, much less watch it. But we have to," said Jeremie. "I love her, too."

I relaxed. Jeremie could be really wise sometimes. "You're right."

But that didn't mean I had to watch it. I'd hear a sharp intake of breath from the others, and Pex's harsh words and hits, and Cali's suppressed grimaces. Jeremie shot up from his chair so quickly I fell off mine.

"He left!" he said.

I got to the door first, bolting through the hall and into the classroom, and saw Cali huddled up under a table, fresh bruises all over her. I dropped to my knees and pulled her into a tight embrace. "It's all over, Cali. I won't ever let him hurt you again."

"That's right!" commented Ulrich. "It took ALL of our strength to restrain him from bursting in here and killing Pex."

Cali laughed. "I bet it did." I kissed her a moment before pulling her up.

"Let's get you to the Infirmary," I said, one arm around her waist and my other hand in hers.

"And I've got a case to work on," said Jeremie.

**.:Aelita's POV:.**

I looked at Jeremie, and then back to Cali. I sighed. Ever since Cali and Jeremie witnessed each other's first kisses, they grew so far apart. I wanted to bring them back together again, I hated this separation. It wasn't noticeable if you weren't on the receiving end, but I've seen Jeremie at his worst state. A sighing and bloodshot mess. But what could I do to make them a pair of twins again?

I followed Jeremie nevertheless, and we came to his dorm. The rule was that you had to have your door open if it was a boy and a girl in the room. But closing it to just a crack still meant it was open, technically.

Jeremie had the tape on his bed. "We should make copies of it," I said, looking at it.

"Indeed I should," said Jeremie, not even bothering to look up from his papers. "But I've still got to look through this. I have to find some loopholes. There's gotta be some law I'm missing-"

I came up to him and put my fingers on his mouth. "You can do that later," I said, enticing him in a way that he could never resist.

"But I have-"

"Nope," I said softly, turning him around in his chair. I began to kiss him softly, and we sort of traveled towards the bed...

"You kids!" yelled an exasperated Jimbo. "You're the second couple I've had to-" Jim saw that it was Jeremie and I.

"Wow, Jeremie. I'm, I'm happy for you. I can't believe you scored a girlfriend. I never really thought that you'd get a girlfriend until you were in college..."

Jeremie blushed. "Er, thanks, Jimbo."

I smiled and looked at Jimbo. "Who couldn't resist Jeremie? He's so... so adorable!" Then I laughed at Jeremie, his face the color of an apple.

"Aelita..."

"Don't worry, Jimbo. I'll take care of Jeremie for you. We were just about to go see a movie, weren't we, Jeremie?" He nodded dumbly. I put my hand on the side of my mouth as if to shield Jeremie from the conversation, and whispered: "I have to take him away from his work. Geniuses are widely known for staying up for hours on end on a project, that's why they don't get girlfriends!" I put my hand down and laced it in Jeremie's. "I do it, too. But then again... I know how to stop! Come on, Jeremie!"

I pulled him down the hall, he was looking back at Jimbo with a _very_ red face. "Er... Cali and Odd's at the Infirmary!"

Jimbo's eyes widened, he wondered how Jeremie knew. "You've never bothered me before until Cali came here, now you're always asking me where she is!" called Jeremie as we rounded the corner.

We stopped, and Jeremie's face was back to normal. "Why'd you do that?"

"Because I wanted to get you away from your work! It's not illegal to have fun, you know!" I said.

Jeremie looked at me over his glasses. "I know that, Aelita. But I have work to do!"

"I pushed up his glasses with my own fingers and kissed him. "I know, Jer. But I wanted to be with the Jeremie I fell in love with! Just... for now, please?"

He blushed at my comment. "I love you, too Aelita."

"I know," I said, kissing him again before setting out of the school gates.

* * *

**That's the end of that chapter. Wow, I got this up fast! Praise me! Lol. Please review. Here's a teaser:**

"Well maybe I should leave!" I yelled.

"Yeah! Maybe you should!" yelled Remie.

"Urgh! Who wants _you _as a brother!" I pushed him onto the ground. Then ran out. I came near the bathrooms, until he grabbed me.

"It's high time to kill you, Cali!" He spat.

The only thought that crossed my mind before I was taken away was:

_Pex._

* * *

**Heehee good teaser, eh?**

**Renayumi:** Yeah, it builds up suspense, eh?

**Angels 'n dreams:** Yes, they kissed, heehee! Now look at the kiss in this one! Heh!

**American-Kitty:** What does ACC mean? I'm clueless, I know. And yes, it would be AWESOME if they put an OC on TV! I think so too. And I sort of get what you're saying...

**Pinky.luvs.HP:** I put up a teaser just for you. That's what a good teaser should look like. DUMBLEDORE'S NAKED! Yes, that is quite a funny line. See you at school hon.

**Review. Now**.

**Lady Epur out**


	9. Vicious Fan Club

**Still don't(sorry to disappoint you...)**

**Sorry it's been such a while. I've been in the middle of a move, and things got hectic... the computer wasn't hooked up for a while. In my rush to get this done, there might be a few mistakes I missed. Enjoy!**

* * *

I tried to pull away from Odd's strong grasp. "I'm _fine,_ Odd! I can walk!" I said, finally managing to get out of his grasp.

"Sorry. I- Well, I felt I had to make it up to you," said Odd, putting his hand behind his head.

"Look, you _had_ to stay put. I don't blame you. I knew it was the last time..." I muttered a hopefully to the end of that, and Odd looked at me.

"Yes, it _will_ be the last time... er... it _was_," he said, opening the door to the infirmary for me.

I came hobbling in, Odd beside me, not helping me because I had asked him not to, and Nurse Dorothy gave him a skeptical look. A suspicious one. Then I realized that she thought Odd had been hurting me! I couldn't really protest, because she'd think that Odd had threatened me into saying it, and it would all be explained in a matter of days. When the trial was over.

Fact is, there was a nasty rumor going around the school that Odd _was_ abusing me. I mean, I did spend a lot of time with him, and he was always emerging out with me after Pex's beatings. But that was the thing about Odd, even though it hurt him, he took it in stride and acting like it didn't affect him, just for me. The perfect boyfriend. Soon they'd all know the real truth. Odd just needed to wait a few more days.

"Well, let's take a look at you, shall we?" said Nurse Dorothy, beginning to dress my wounds. I could see Odd cringing and his eyes were full of anger. I knew what he was thinking. He had failed in protecting me.

"Odd," I said. "You've taken me here, you can leave now. Go hang with Ulrich for a while."

Once he had left, Nurse Dorothy looked at me. "What happened? Did he... did he?"

"No!" I said a little too quickly. "He has nothing to-"

"You know, I can help you, Cali. You don't have to take any more of it. I won't tell Mr. Della Robbia a thing-"

"He didn't hit me," I said in a final sort of tone.

She sighed and continued on dressing my wounds. She'll know the truth soon, they all will.

**.:Odd's POV:.**

I sighed, walking down the sidewalk to the courtyard where Ulrich was. Boys my age were giving me an evil look. I knew they all were attracted to Cali, and why shouldn't they be? I mean, she was gorgeous. But they weren't just jealous, one of them had decided to start a rumor that I abused Cali. Me? I knew what it was like to be abused! And I'd _never_ do that to Cali.

One boy stopped me. He actually grabbed me by the collar and said: "You disgust me! You land a girl like Cali, and you..."

"No one has been able prove it, have they?" I spat.

"Well... no, but we all know it's you who's hurting her! And you're supposed to be Jeremie's best friend!" he accused.

I put my hand on his arm, and extricated myself from his grasp. "Look, next time you go around accusing someone... make sure you can prove it!" And I walked over to Ulrich.

"Looks like you have quite the fan club," commented Ulrich as Odd came up to him.

"Oh yeah, they're all begging for my autograph!" I said, collapsing onto a bench. "I just _can't_ wait until this whole trial's over. Then Cali and I can have some peace, and the teachers will stop giving me evil looks."

Ulrich nodded. "I can't wait till it's over too. Jeremie's SO uptight, and Yumi's parents won't let Yumi stay after school anymore."

"'Cause of me, right?"

"Right," said Ulrich. "And whenever I come over to her house, her parents always say they're having 'family time.' And then Yumi phones me and says, 'You have to get me out of here!' Which I respond to, 'I've tried!'"

I nodded my head, not really listening to Ulrich.

"It must suck having to spend all that time with your family. If I had to spend that much time with my little brother every day... I don't know what I'd do!"

That comment sent me into another flurry of thoughts. Siblings. I had none. I was the only one in the group he didn't have any, well, except Aelita. But she's different. Maybe... Maybe if I had siblings, then my life wouldn't be so...

I shook my head. I liked my life. I would never change mine for anyone else's! Sure, I had a difficult past, but I had someone to share that with now. And I had a wonderful group of friends, a life of daring adventure that never left me bored, and Cali. If I ever had the chance to change my past, I wouldn't. Because if I had changed it, I wouldn't have what I have now, which is what I really want.

"Hey Odd, are you there?" Ulrich's hand was waving in front of my face.

I jumped, and sat straighter. "Huh? What?"

Ulrich laughed. "You were daydreaming again, Odd. We seriously need to get you a hobby."

"You know, maybe if I had siblings," I began without even realizing. "That Mother wouldn't have considered me a mistake."

Ulrich looked at me with a confused look. "What are you talking about, Odd?"

Ulrich doesn't know my past. He knows Cali's... but I never really got around to telling him about mine. I just made up lies and stuck with them for the rest of my life, until Cali showed up.

"Er... Wrong person," I said, getting up.

"'That Mother wouldn't have considered me a mistake'? I don't follow Odd, tell me what's going on."

"Nothing. Forget I said it."

"It's not nothing if your mother considers you a mistake. You described her so... as if she was an angel. The perfect mother. Gave a band-aid to every cut, baked cookies, all that Jazz. You never made her sound like a... a..."

"An abuser." I finished.

"Well, yes."

"I was sent to this school as a last resort. My mother was trying to save her own butt and sent me here. Never saw her again, and would LOVE to keep it that way. She just... didn't bake me cookies or any of that stuff. She-"

"Hit you, just like Cali's past. Now I see why you guys are so well together!" said Ulrich as realization dawned on him, explaining so many thing for the past years that he had known Odd.

I nodded. Ulrich let out a low whistle. "Jeez, I never realized..."

I patted his shoulder. "It's okay, Ulrich. I never wanted you to."

I rose to get up, heading to the infirmary, knowing that I had just left Ulrich in what should be the most confused state he had ever been in.

I walked into the bland room, and Cali sat at the bed, waiting for me with a smile. "Hello."

"How's the Fan Club?"

"As vicious as ever."

"Did I ever tell you I love you?"

"I think I forgot," I said with a wink.

Cali slipped her arms around me. "Then allow me to jog your memory..."

**.:Next Day:.**

I had to sit next Remie today in science. Mrs. Hertz made a new seating chart, and had us sitting front and center, her most beloved students. I shot Odd an apologetic look as I slipped my books on the surface in front of me and perched on the stool. Remie was sitting next to me. He didn't say a word, so why should I?

"All right class, I thought I'd start out the day with a simple equation..." began Mrs. Hertz.

"You know..." whispered Remie, "I don't know what I did to make you so mad."

"Mad? Who said I was mad?"

"You won't even say anything to me. I consider that as mad."

"Well, I'm far from it."

"Then what? All of a sudden, you see Aelita and me kissing and you run out of the room. What did I do?"

"It's nothing."

"Oh, it's something!" whispered Remie fiercely.

I ignored him. "I know what it is!" He looked at me with a little triumphant grin on his face. "You're jealous!"

"I most certainly am not!" I denied, although it certainly was the truth.

Mrs. Hertz turned from the board. "Mr Belpoi- Er Hester, please quiet down."

That infuriated me even more. Me and Remie weren't even the same gender! And Mrs. Hertz couldn't tell us apart! Her eyesight must be failing or something...

"Yes you are. You're so jealous you can't even see straight! I have everything you want. Parents. No horrible drama-filled past, that- may I remind you- got you in Odd's arms. AND I have the good looks."

I rolled my eyes. "Do you see a million girls threatening to beat up Aelita anywhere? I am the total opposite of you. All the guys are after me, so it means a little threatening to Odd on my part... but..."

"I'm right," said Remie.

"No you're not."

"Yes I am."

"No you're not."

"YES I AM!" yelled Remie.

"You two! Do I need to send you both to the Principal's office?" scolded Mrs. Hertz.

"No ma'am," we both recited in unison.

We sat back. "You're wrong," I said.

"You're getting on my LAST nerve, Cali," said Remie.

"Oh really? Well then maybe I should leave!"

"Maybe you should!" cried Remie as we got out off our stools so fast the both of them fell over.

"Urgh! Who would want _you_ as a brother?" I yelled, pushing him into the ground.

"Children, children. STOP!" yelled Mrs. Hertz.

Remie and I both paid no attention to her. Remie picked up a stool and threw it at my chest, the gash reopening and gushing out blood. He looked mortified. I know he hadn't meant to do that, but...

I burst into tears, and ran out of the room. I ran though the halls, the blood dripping behind me, leaving a trail of blood that could easily be followed. I fell to the ground on my knees, and buried my head in my bloodied hands. Remie didn't want me here... I didn't want to be here. What would be the point? If my twin hated my guts, why should I stay? I felt a strong pair of calloused hands on my shoulders that sent shivers through my entire body. I was slung over someone's shoulders, and I winced as my stomach with the newly opened gash was slapped into the bone of his shoulder with careless force.

"It's high time to kill you, Cali!" he spat.

I grimaced a bit more, and shivered as well. His voice connected to my very worst nightmares. I screamed as loud as I could. The only thought that crossed my mind was:

_Pex._

**.:Jeremie's POV:.**

Everyone was staring at me. Cali had run out, and Odd stood there, frozen. Torn between leaving and staying. "She... I..."

Aelita was even looking at me funny. This had happened twice already! I had hit Cali with not so much force and one of her wounds from Pex gets reopened. Aelita didn't even know the full of it. She knew some, but... I never wanted to tell her. She always thought parents were loving and would never do anything to hurt their children.

Then the scream pierced out through the halls, and Odd was practically jumping to leave. He didn't want to leave me to fend for myself.

"Go Odd! Go help her!" I yelled. I would have, but I could hear my laptop beeping, and I looked at Aelita. "Time to go," I said, grabbing my backpack and running out with Aelita and Ulrich in tow, he on his cell phone warning Yumi.

**.:Odd's POV:.**

I tore through the halls after Cali's scream. All I could hear were muffled thumps coming from the staircase leading to the kitchens. I followed, making sure Pex didn't see me. I had to get a surprise attack on him to weaken him. I definitely could not knock him out if he isn't weakened first. That guy is buffed up, I could not beat him without that first surprising blow.

I flew down the stairs, crouching behind a counter, spying on Pex. There was something weird about him, though. He had a glowing aura around him... This was XANA's doing! I grabbed a pan and snuck behind him, he threw an unconscious Cali into the freezer, blood spilling out of her, still. The door closed, and Pex turned towards me. I jumped behind a counter, he had only seen a glimpse of me, and although XANA had control of him, it didn't make him any smarter, so Pex didn't even bother to look behind the counter.

My cell vibrated on my belt, and I pulled it to my ear, and whispered, "Jeremie?"

"Odd! XANA's launched an-"

"Attack, I know. Took over Pex and threw Cali in the freezer."

I could hear Jeremie typing furiously typing. "Can you hold him off?" asked Jeremie in a hopeful voice.

"Jeremie, I can barely knock out the guy when he was just Pex! But now that..."

"I've been working on that program, I could Jeremefy you..."

"Please do, Jeremie!"

"Okay... but remember last time-"

"Cali's in trouble, man!" I almost screamed, but kept my voice low because I didn't want Pex to find me.

"Okay." Jeremie began typing and whispering codes under his breath, something that Cali would understand, but certainly not me. He hung up a moment later, realizing he was still on the phone. I clipped my cell back on my belt, then looked around. The smoke that would take me over would be coming soon.

I didn't have to wait long, as it turned out, for the smoke rose eerily out of the outlet near me, and threw itself into me, surging through my bones and blood, my veins and very being. I felt like I was being electrocuted, in short, and I swear I could see my body go transparent a few times and I could see my own bones. I shuddered, thinking what long-term effects this would have.

Now a green aura was around me, and I cracked my knuckles. I threw the pan towards Pex, and it dented, clattering uselessly to the floor. Pex turned to face me, and I threw myself on him, throwing him onto the ground.

**.:Back In Lyoko:.**

Ulrich and Yumi had cut through three Hornets, five Krabs and seven Kankrelots before they fell back onto their vehicles. Aelita was taking the lead toward the red tower before them.

Yumi fell to the green ground as her vehicle dematerialized under her and a monster shot it's final life-point taking shot at Yumi. Ulrich flew to the Hornet, and drove his sword through it. He fell back onto his bike and brought up the rear to Aelita's pathetic facade.

A large swarm of hornets came over to Ulrich, keeping him busy so the Scipizoa could float eerily toward it's prey and leech off it's memory. Aelita's face was that of a stunned look as the Scipizoa took her in its slimy tentacles and began to suck out Aelita's memory like an annoying tick sucking out your blood.

"Ulrich! The Scipizoa's got Aelita!" yelled Jeremie.

"I'm getting to it, Jeremie!" yelled Ulrich as his sword drove through yet another hornet.

He fell to the ground, his over bike long gone. With forty life-points left, the situation was getting desperate. Making a split-second decision that would either save the world or doom it, Ulrich split himself into sevens, one Ulrich for each monster that was left. But that leeched off twenty life-points, so Ulrich only had twenty life-points left, or two hits. Each Ulrich except two, hit their targets, and two didn't, devirtualizing. Ulrich threw his sword at the three Hornets left, and the sword took out all three of them, and Ulrich ran under it, holding his arm up, and catching it without looking, a famous trait of his.

He flew through the forest, stopping right in front of Aelita and the Scipizoa. Throwing his sword at the Scipizoa with such force, it would've dislocated his shoulder had he been on Earth, the sword cut through the tentacles, and the Lecherous monster floated away, dropping Aelita unceremoniusly. She laid on the ground unconsciously and didn't stir. Ulrich caught his sword and ran over to Aelita.

"Jeremie! Did it...?"

"I... It was dangerously low..."

"Ulrich?" whispered Aelita.

"She's alive!" yelled Ulrich and hugged her.

"Ulrich..."

"Sorry, you'd better go..."

Aelita nodded and melted into the tower.

---------------------------------------------------

Odd ripped off the handle of the freezer and kneeled in front of Cali. He took her in his arms and transferred all the body heat he had onto her. He promised her he wouldn't let Pex hurt her. He promised. And look what was happening now!

Pex came storming in, and Odd grabbed Cali, running out. She did not need to be in there any longer. He set her down a moment and slammed the door on the freezer, entrapping Pex. He knew it wouldn't last, but it was ll he could do.

Odd grabbed Cali again and tore out, and ran to a safe hiding spot. He ripped off his shirt and wrapped it around her, both of their breathing coming out in ragged breaths. Here was the after affects of being Jeremefied. All the strength he had used in such a short period of time amounts to that of the strength of no human being, and since he was still conscious of being just Odd, he lost his strength quicker than Pex or anyone else that was XANAfied.

-----------------------------------------------------

Aelita performed her trademark flip and landed on the platform. The screen appeared in front of her and she placed her hand on it. The computer recognized her.

AELITA

-----------------------------------------------------

The freezer door flew open, and Pex stormed out, heading towards the ragged breaths he heard.Odd dropped to the ground out of exhaustion.

-----------------------------------------------------

CODE:

LYOKO

------------------------------------------------------

Pex slapped Odd out of his pathetic guard of Cali and picked her up. Both Pex and Cali dropped to the ground.

-------------------------------------------------------

It was too messy for the them not to go into the past, so Jeremie pressed the famous button. "RETURN TO THE PAST NOW!" he yelled exasperatedly, and the blinding white light flew across the town, over the school, the buildings, the factory, over the collapsed Odd, Pex, and Cali.

--------------------------------------------------------

They were all sitting in math class, Jeremie and Cali both out of their stool. "Well then maybe I should leave!" yelled Cali.

Jeremie looked at her and let out a breath. He threw his arms over her and they embraced. I"m so glad you're alive!" he yelled.

Cali's eyes widened, she remembered them being in a fight, then she ran out, and Pex knocked her out. It must have been a XANA attack and things were too messy for them to keep time as it was.

"I was jealous, too," said Jeremie as he pulled back and wiped his eyes with his sleeve. "You had the looks, and you were as smart as me. I hated that you got it all and you still had the smarts that I prided myself over. I always wanted that to by _my_ special thing..."

"Oh Remie!" cried Cali, wiping off a few tears of her own. "I was jealous of you! You had parents! You were never abused..."

"I'm sorry!" the cried in unison, pulling each other into tight hug.

The class sat there, dumbfounded. They were in such a heated fight, and now they were making up?

"Well, class. There's a display of twin love..." said a confused Mrs. Hertz, before turning back to the board.

Pex slipped into Jeremie's dorm, grabbing the tape on the bed. How could he have been so foolish? But now he had the tape, so he'd like to see them win now.

* * *

**Yay! 9th chapter up now! The responses to my faithful reviewers are as follows:**

**American-Kitty:** Thank you! I was pondering that, and thanks for saying I'm not clueless.

**AznBubbleGal:** Wow, very... er... enthusiastic. And uh... you love me? Okay... lol

**Liz-Sakura:** Here's that sib fight! Heehee!

**DarkAngel1000:** Was it because it was boring? Oh dear, I hope not...

**CrazyCreator33: **Good, I'm glad that you like the story, and that you praise me :D But I would love some criticism if you have it, don't hold back!

**Otritzi:** Yeah, I know...I'm glad you think it should go on the series! I think so too... Scouts! Here's my ficcy!

**JUST ME MYSELF AND I:** Here's the post! Haven't stopped, don't worry. Good stories take time!

**Didgi Girl:** I'm glad. I've been trying to span it out that way...

**The button below me is just begging to be pushed... You know you want to... Nudge Nudge**


	10. The Trial

**Don't own it.**

* * *

The alarm clock rang in my ears, and I sat up abruptly. Usually, I'd put it to snooze and sleep in till the absolute last second. But there was something that stopped me too. I didn't feel tired at all. And a sickly knot twisted deeper in my stomach. I felt like throwing up. And for once in my life, I wasn't hungry.

I sighed and turned up the radio, threw off the covers and rummaged for some clothes, I needed to do laundry... I grabbed my trademark purple outfit, one of them anyways, and shower bag, and headed for the showers. At least I won't count on a long line today.

Ulrich oped one eye and looked over at me. "You're up?"

"...Yeah." I opened the door and headed to the bathrooms.

**.:Jeremie's POV:.**

I awoke, and instantly headed for my computer. Classes were cut short today on the count of Odd's hearing. I walked over and printed out the necessary legal documents and proof. I loaded it up in the suitcase, then closed it and put on some clothes.

"Hey Jeremie, ready for the big trial today?" asked Yumi at the door.

"Not really," I told her, going over to my desk again. I had one more thing to grab.

That's when I began to panic. Throwing papers with important quadratic formulas to cure Aelita from her virus were carelessly thrown aside. My dorm looked like a madhouse, and Yumi looked concerned.

"Jeremie, what are you looking for?"

"The tape. The surveillance tape! I... I can't find it!"

She rushed forward to help with the search, but it was no use. Someone had taken it, and I could only guess who.

"Why? Why was I so careless?" I scolded myself. Yumi patted my shoulder.

"It's okay Jeremie, things like this happen."

"But why this! The only thing that would keep Odd at this school and Cali safe is gone!" I dropped onto my bed and buried my head in my hands. "This is why I'm not pursuing a career in law."

**.:Cali's POV:.**

I dropped my pack onto my desk and headed towards Odd, who was sitting on the stool, his face oddly pale and clutching his stomach somewhat.

I knew something was wrong when he didn't show up for breakfast and Ulrich had said he got up real early this morning. I sighed and walked over to him.

"Odd?" I asked, sitting down on the stool next to him. "I know you're nervous and-"

"How do you know? Does it show?" asked Odd.

I looked at him funnily. "Well, I just assumed you'd be because of the trial and everything-"

"THAT'S what's bothering me!" He smiled at me. "I'd forgotten."

I shook my head. Typical of Odd to forget something as important as that. But I had to ask him now. "Odd..."

He looked at me, concerned. "What's wrong, Cali?"

"I well... I'm sorry." He looked at me in a funny way, and opened his mouth, but I kept on going. I couldn't let him talk or I would never be able to say it. "I mean, I got you into this mess. And I just wanted you to know that I appreciate this. You didn't have to do what you did, and I-"

Odd took my hands in his. "Cali," he said softly, shutting me up. "I _did_ have to do what I did. I _did_ have to get Pex off you. You think that I'd sit there and let him do that?"

I smiled a bit. Of course, Odd would never have let anyone do that to me. "I have this... sort of theory, if you will."

I raised my eyebrows. Odd had a _theory?_ "You see, I'd like to think of it as climbing onto a rope. A rope leading to the wall in our minds. And every time something like that would happen, I'd slide deeper, until I finally reached the wall, and helped you repair it."

"Did, did you reach the wall yet?"

Odd chuckled. "Yes, Cali."

I smiled. "You know Odd, that's not a theory. It's a metaphor."

He rolled his eyes. "It's _something_, isn't it?"

"I suppose so."

"Now class, get into your seats. It's time to start the lesson!" yelled Mrs. Hertz, trying to get some order back into the class. I slipped back into my seat next to Remie. He looked panicked. I thought maybe he was stressed about the trial that was coming up in two hours.

Aelita didn't show up. Nor did she show up for the other class. Half an hour into our history class(A substitute took the place of Pex today), Odd and Remie left the class, along with the Student Jury.

Ulrich looked over at me, seeing my pale, strickened face, knowing that this was all my fault that Odd could possibly be expelled, and he gave me a half-hearted thumbs-up. I sighed and couldn't even pay attention to the rest of the lesson.

The bell rang, and Odd and Pex were the topic of conversation as the students milled in front of the court room(They were allowed to come in and watch because the school thought it would be a worthy learning experience).

The stories were becoming even more mangled than before. I caught one group of girls saying a version of it .

"Yeah, and Odd jumped on top of that Cali girl. Pex pulled him off, but it was all in vain, for Odd kept throwing punches."

Most of the girls favored Pex, because he was a pretty handsome guy, I had to admit, even though he was hideous to look at in my opinion.

I also heard some girls say another version.. "Pex threw Cali onto the ground and it almost knocked her out. Then Odd charged at him and beat him, rendering him unconscious. Then he pulled Cali into his arms and kissed her."

Some of the girls swooned. "He's so brave!" said one.

"I wish I were Cali," said another. No they didn't. They really, really didn't want to be me.

I came to the front of the doors, and I felt people's stares on me. I grimaced and waited. Finally, the doors opened, and Remie and Odd were standing outside the doorway to get on the stage. I came to greet them.

"Hey guys!" I said. "Nervous?"

Remie swallowed and nodded. Odd only said: "Have you seen Aelita?"

I shook my head. "No. Why?"

She called me five minutes ago. Told me to wait for her. But the trail's about to begin." He looked at his watch. "I lost the tape."

"The tape... you... you mean the tape that would get Pex arrested?"

Remie nodded. "I'm sorry, Cali. I really am."

I felt light-headed and dizzy. I was hurt so bad during that, and for what? Him take away the tape?"

Remie sighed. "I need you to testify, Cali."

"What?"

"If you want Pex gone and Odd to stay here, then you need to testify."

I looked at Odd. "Okay, I'll do it."

Remie looked at his watch. "Sorry, Odd. We can't wait any longer. Tell Aelita I couldn't wait, all right?" he asked me, pulling Odd into the trial room.

"Good luck, Odd!" I waved, heading off to sit with Yumi and Ulrich. They looked nervous enough. I decided not to tell them about losing the tape.

"They told you, didn't they?" asked Ulrich.

"Huh?" I asked.

"The tape. They told you he lost it?" asked Yumi.

"Yeah." We all sat in silence.

The Judge came to the bench and sat. I held my breath as the court was called to order. "Plaintiff: Pexus Dinoh. Defendant: Oswald Della Robbia. I call the Plaintiff to the stand."

Pex's lawyer stood up and presented his case. I saw Remie squirming nervously in his seat.

"My client had not taken this job to be harassed by his students. And furthermore, to have all these false accusations against him!"

I couldn't really pay attention to the lawyer much, I was too nervous about what I was going to say. I could talk about my past dealings with him, Remie had all the adoption papers in his suitcase, and have to rely on the judge to see if the accusations were true.

I caught tidbits of things the lawyer was saying, but they were all absurd bended truths, so close to lies, but not exactly there yet. I kept my attention on Remie. It was actually the first time that I had such a strong connection with him. No, it wasn't like ESP, or anything. It was like... I don't know, it's kind of hard to explain. Like you can just feel what they're feeling.

I could feel his nervousness, and in turn, it caused me to be nervous. All I wanted to do was go over there and give him a hug. He really needed one.

Suddenly, Remie had stood up, and I could hear the words as if it were me saying them, standing right in front of the Jury to present his case.

"I would like to present California Hester to testify," he said, his voice oddly businesslike, and held not the least bit of nervousness in it.

I sighed, rising out of my seat and walking up. Everyone's eyes were on me, and I made my way to the bench.

Remie had given the Judge the necessary adoption papers, and he studied to see if they were counterfeit. Concluding that they weren't, he turned to me. "Is it true that Mr. Dinoh had adopted you between the years of 1998 through 2000?"

I nodded.

"All right, then, go on," the Judge said.

I took a deep breath, and began speaking. "Pex had adopted me, and things were good-at first. But then he made mes top coming to school, he began to get more and more under the Influence every day, and he began to hit me-"

"I object!" Yelled the lawyer, he was looking panicky, now.

The Judge gave him a glare. "Objection overruled. Go on."

"He would hurt me every day, and addition to that, would make me do odd chores, child-labor induced chores. If I did not finish them in the time frame he had given me, he would not give me food. These chores were hard, and took long hours to finish them. He once had me replace three windows, the garbage disposal under the kitchen sink and spackle the holes in the wall in just two hours. I did not finish, so I got no food for the day. The chores became increasingly harder each day, the time limit getting smaller. On top of that, I never had food for even whole weeks, at times. And even a meal consisted of a sandwich and some water, if I was lucky."

I took a shaky breath. Why couldn't I keep my voice suave, like Remie's? Most of these things I said, you could tell. I was still very thin, and bruises and scars covered my body.

"When I came here, it seems that he followed. And upon coming here, he hit me, after I refused to speak with him. Odd tackled him to get him off me, he really had no choice. And the abuses continued. I... I don't feel safe with him at this school."

I tried to keep my tears back, I saw Odd with a pained look on his face. He would never have been able to do that, and he had a little bit of a smile on the corner of his mouth, showing me he was impressed.

Everyone who knew me well, they knew I was strong. I kept things to myself, most of the time, until they coaxed it out of me. So I sat at the bench, trying not to cry, and looking Pex defiantly. Suddenly the urge to cry was gone, I knew that I had stood up to Pex not only once, but twice.

The Judge gave me a little sympathetic nod, then I got off the bench. "We will have recess for fifteen minutes, during that time, we will reach a verdict."

Everyone got up to leave to do who knows what, and I turned to Remie. We gave each other a hug at the same time. "You were great," I told him, as we pulled back.

"So were you."

Odd was smiling, and he looked at Jeremie. "All right, give me some time with my girl."

I laughed, the tears rolling freely down my face by this time. He rubbed the off my cheeks with his thumbs, and buried his face in my hair. "You're amazing, you know that? I never could have done that," he whispered. My head was buried in his chest.

"It was hard, but if it was to keep you here, I'm all for it."

Yumi and Ulrich joined us. Even Sissi and her gang came over. With a surprising act of kindness, Sissi said: "I hope you guys win, I don't like Pex much."

With a curt nod of her head, she turned away, but turned once more. "And I believe you."

I smiled, and leaned closer to Odd, who had his arm securely around my waist.

"But don't think this changes anything!" said Sissi. She turned and walked away.

"Hey Sissi!" She turned around. "I wouldn't think it any other way."

We all stood around, talking, and trying not to remember that we were in the middle of a recess in the hugest trial this school has ever had... well, it was the first, but that didn't change anything.

We were all called back into the court, and I sat with Odd and Remie. The Judge looked solemn and official. "We have reached a verdict. And based on the evidence, or lack thereof, we have concluded that Pex has won this ca-"

"Wait!" screamed Aelita, running through the aisle and reaching the bench. She was waving a black cassette-tape in her hand. Could it be? "Please sir, before you make a verdict, watch this, please!"

I looked over to see Pex's eyes widened. "No, that's been edited! They're trying to frame me! Are you going to listen to a bunch of snot-nosed _children?_"

The Judge raised one eyebrow, and then slipped the tape into the VCR.

"Do you think I care about this job, you imbecile? I found out you were here, so I threatened the History Teacher and got the job! Heheh, what a sucker, that Headmaster. And you want to know why I came here? It was to kill you!"

I winced a bit. His voice was cold as ice. "I think I'm gonna let you suffer. Then I'll kill ya."

Everyone had a look of sheer horror in their faces. What were their thoughts? Disgust? Terror? Pity? Whatever it was, it was evident on their faces.

"Well, considering this new piece of evidence, I'm sure the Jury will agree with my here, Mr. Pexus Dinoh is guilty!"

The guards came, and hauled him away. We all whooped. Remie came behind Aelita and actually picked her up and twirled her around to face him. "I love you, you know that!" screamed Remie, pulling her into a deep kiss.

"How did you? You'll pay! I don't know how, but you will!" yelled Pex.

"Hey, Pex!" yelled Aelita. "You forgot you were dealing with three geniuses!"

I laughed, and turned to Odd. He smiled. "I'm here to stay!" he yelled, actually picking me up.

"Until you find another stunt to get you expelled!" I exclaimed, kissing him.

It must have been quite a scene. We were on a stage, mind you, and the entire school poulation was watching us. And I could care less.

Mr. Delmas came behind us. He coughed, and we pulled away. "Yes?" asked Odd, not taking his eyes off me.

"I wanted to say, that I apologize. I truly did not know the entire depths of it."

I looked at him. "It's all right now, because Pex is gone."

"I kept my promise," said Odd. "Pex will never hurt you again."

I laughed. "As if you could break a promise to me, Oswald!"

He gave me a playful punch, and we ran around the stage, I did not want to get punched by Odd. Our laughter, I would like to say, was heard all over the world that day.

* * *

**Woohoo! Chapter done. Do not worry, there's more! I decided to leave it on a happy note. Heheh.**

**British-American-Kitty:** Thank you!

**renayumi: **Yes, I liked that line, too.

**DarkAngel1000:** "lagkes?" what does that mean?

**Liz-Sakura:** Yeah, the chair thing may have been too much... but it did fit!

**Dark Shiva Goddess: **Definitely needs to be on the show.

**Angel Of The Sea:** Yeah, well my giant mutant ninja _dolphins_ will beat up your mutant ninja bunnies. So beat _THAT!_

**Didgi Girl:** Thanks for the candy! It goes well with my insatiable hunger to TAKE OVER THE WORLD! Haha, just kidding... or am I?

**Raining Heart:** I know, I love to keep you suspended

**CrazyCreator33: **Who does?

**Rycr:** I think you're right! Oh, the cleverness of me! Heheh, thanks for the compliment.

**lyokolady:** Thank you for the invite! I will cherish it deeply!

**Long lost sorrow:** All right... for your sanity then...

**Otritzi:** He does, but I don't think the gang would have the heart to kill him. So they sent him to ail instead!

**Raymanly73:** Nope, not finished! I've got a bit more story to do!

**That's it, folks! Read and you shall be filled with knowledge. Review, and I shall give you cyber candy!**

**Lady Epur out**


	11. We Can Swing!

**I wish that by now, the big important lawyer peoples would realize that I have no intention of stealing the characters, okay?**

* * *

It was a known fact that Ulrich Stern is a very handsome boy, and even more known that he is quite shy. But what perhaps is the most known fact, save one person, is that he is in love with one girl. And she is the only one who doesn't know. Seeing this... rather slow relationship take place, became too annoying to a certain group of people, which is why they formulated a plan to get them together, finally. 

"I think we should just put a piece of mistletoe under them and consider it done," said Odd.

Cali whacked him in the head. "Yeah, except that's SO cliched, Odd," she said, shaking her head.

"Well, we've got to do something, they both look so forlorn when they see us together," said Aelita.

"Which is why I've come up with a little something," said Jeremie.

"Well, don't just sit there, tell us Remie!" said Cali.

"OK, well, I was thinking maybe I could..." explained Jeremie.

**.:Next Day:.**

Aelita, Jeremie, Odd, and Cali stayed together all that day, not bothering to include Ulrich or Yumi in their little escapade.

So Ulrich and Yumi hung around together, instead of trying to see why Jeremie, Cali, Aelita, and Odd wouldn't talk to them.

"Why are they ignoring us?" asked a fed-up Ulrich.

"I don't know, but they should have a very good reason for it, I'm sure," replied Yumi, both reassuring herself and Ulrich.

Classes went by, and finally it was the evening, Jeremie, Cali, Odd, and Aelita all went out, saying they were going on a double-date.

But what they were actually doing was setting up the necessary supplies for their little prank. Thank God for the Winter Dance coming up.

**.:The Day Of The Dance:.**

It had been almost a week since the four had separated themselves from Ulrich and Yumi. Cali and Odd's excuse is that they were working on making better scanners, and Jeremie and Aelita claimed that they were working on the Anti-virus.

But the four soon realized that if Ulrich had ever decided to check this out, they would be in a world of hurt, and make up even more lies. So they ended up staying up at night doing those things. Jeremie and Aelita were used to it, Jeremie because... well, he always worked on the anti-virus and pulled many all-nighters. Aelita because shw hadn't slept all of her life until she came to Earth, and didn't have to sleep that much anyways.

And Cali was sort of used to it because she never got much sleep at Pex's. It used to be the same for Odd, but it had been many years since then, and he was quite tired to help them out when they were putting the final touches of their plan up that afternoon.

Cali excused herself and took Odd by the wrist, taking him to his Dormitory.

"Odd, you're too tired to help us! Take a nap so you can be there at the dance with me."

"I want to help you, Cali," said Odd.

She took his hand. "You are. Go to sleep and you'll be helping even more than you think."

She turned to leave, but Odd called after her. "Hey, what about my good-night kiss?"

Cali rolled her eyes and turned to him. "You'd better be SO lucky that I love you," she said, giving him a peck on the lips.

Odd smiled. "I am Cali."

Cali returned to Jeremie and Aelita. But she interrupted them in quite a cozy predicament. They blushed, and said they weren't doing anything, but Cali just shook her head and smiled. She was happy for her brother. This was his once-in-a-lifetime girlfriend, and it was the other way around for Aelita.

"Hey Remie, how do we hide the mic?" She asked.

He turned to face Cali. "Put some garland on it or something." He was way too preoccupied with the wiring to do much else.

Cali sighed, turning to Aelita. She smiled, nodding at Cali's silent prodding, and slipped her arms around Jeremie's.

"Aelita..." He said. Although, you could definitely tell that he didn't mind one bit.

"Jeremie, someone needs to teach you the art of relaxation," She heard her say.

"Well, I don't think I'd mind if you taught it to me..." said Jeremie.

Cali shook her head, smiling, and returning to her original problem. Finally deciding that putting garland around it would be the best solution, she fluffed some around the mic, and you would never noticed it if you hadn't put it there yourself.

Cali ended up doing half of the wiring herself, due to the fact that jeremie seemed to be quite "busy" with Aelita at the moment. But she didn't mind it. In fact, she rather liked it this way. She knew exactly what she was doing, and could do it efficiently.

Not that Jeremie couldn't do it. She didn't think that at all. But she had more experience, and could do it faster, and he well... He couldn't. He was never trained. He had never lived that fear of not getting something done fast enough. It wasn't his fault, Cali would have much preferred it that she could do it better with a lot of practice, instead of under a lot of pressure and fear. But that wasn't the case, and however much hell it had seemed at the time didn't really calculate much anymore. It had taught her to do a lot of things well and fast. But again, she wished out of practice.

Eventually though, being the work-horse that Jeremie was, he and Aelita pulled away, and helped Cali finish, felling rather guilty that she had already done so much to begin with. She left them to it, leaving to hook the wires up to the speaker in the gym.

"Cali? Ready to go, or not?" asked Yumi, looking into her room. Cali smiled, and twirled around in her blue dress.

"I think so."

Yumi was genuinely happy. Aelita and Cali were with her, and she had missed them that week. And she couldn't hide her smile. She and Ulrich had come to an agreement that they would escort each other to the dance. Yumi couldn't help but fantasize about what might happen between them.

Their dates arrived, and they left to the dance, talking merrily about how things were and how much work they had done at the factory. It was a cold night, and Jeremie offered his coat to Aelita. Taking the lead, Odd offered his coat to Cali, and hesitantly, Ulrich offered his to Yumi.

She smiled and took it gratefully.

"Looks like Ulrich's taking the bait easier than I thought," whispered Cali.

Odd nodded. "You don't hear him murmuring in his dreams about how much he wanted to hold her..."

Cali smacked him. "I'm surprised you woke up, Odd."

"And miss going to the dance with you? Never," he answered simply, lacing his fingers in hers and walking faster.

They finally arrived at the Dance, and it was a spectacular sight. Garland hung around the ceiling, with some sprigs of mistletoe, which everyone stood well out of the way of. There were millions of paper snowflakes, and it almost made the ceiling look like a massive chunk of ice. Red and green velvets draped over the tables, and there were croissants and cheeses, eggnog and, by popular demand, chicken.

It was deliriously warm, and coats hung on chairs, left forgotten by the children. Upbeat music pumped through the speakers. Kids were dancing, laughing, and enjoying life. Wouldn't you be enjoying life if you got to spend Winter in France?

Odd instantly helped himself from the fabulous foods on the table, and Cali went off to talk to Sissi. She didn't want to, but it was part of the plan.

"Er, Sissi?" asked Cali, making her way through the maze of students to reach Sissi. She was dressed in a hideous red dress that peculiarly resembled "Mrs. Claus."

She looked up, and was surprised to see Cali standing in front of her. "What do you want?" she sneered. Sissi had never told a living soul, but she had been jealous of both Cali and Aelita. She knew the two girls had family ties to Ulrich's group, but it wasn't fair. Ulrich's group was by far the most well known group in the school. Not Sissi's, but Ulrich's. And they always were plotting something, it seemed. Always disappearing and not coming back until the early hours of the morning. Yeah, she had been spying on them. But she had to! How else could she black-mail them into accepting her into the group?

"I have something to tell you."

"Well, are you dumb? Get on with it?"

Cali had a hard time suppressing a sneer. "It's just that Ulrich wanted me to tell you that..." she paused for a moment, building up suspense. "Meet him in the broom closet in fifteen minutes."

And Cali had turned and left. Everyone knew that the broom closet was a small enclosure with a door where kids go into to get some "privacy." There was always a little group who met around the door for a rousing game of Seven Minutes of Heaven every time there was a dance. And that was Cali and Odd's job, to keep the students away from the closet. While Jeremie and Aelita handled the technical stuff. So Cali had joined Odd later. He had told all the kids that someone had placed a stink bomb in there, and that you'd suffocate before you got "to it."

"Hey Cal," he said, taking her hands and putting his head against her hair. "Wanna dance?"

Cali knew they were on a mission, but one dance couldn't hurt anything, she just nodded, and Odd swept her onto the dance floor. A swing number began playing, and many people left the dance floor. Odd laughed, and brought Cali to him. "Let's show them how to swing, shall we?"

Cali laughed and nodded, and Odd began swinging her around.

They made quite a spectacle of themselves. While Cali was living at the SS, they had offered dance lessons, and, bored out of her mind, Cali attended them. She had learned to swing, and enjoyed every minute of it. She was a little rusty, but it all came flowing back to her after a few moments.

People were clapping and whooping, and Odd and Cali continued. The song ended though, and Cali and Odd returned to their post at the broom closet, after throwing a couple out and shooing them away. Everyone was kind of scared of Odd after the trial, if he could stand up to Pex, what made them think they could match him?

Remembering that they had two minutes left, Cali bid a good-bye to Odd. She had to get Yumi near the speakers, and out of sight of the broom closet. Jeremie was handling Ulrich.

"Yumi!" called Cali, grabbing her wrist and dragging her closer to the stage, where the speakers were. Come on, let's go... dance!" said Cali.

"What?" asked Yumi.

"Come on, it's the Electric Slide. Everyone dances the electric slide!" said Cali. She grabbed her wrist and began dancing. Yumi gave up, and began dancing too.

But then the music was cut off, and Yumi was about to head to the punch bowl again, to sulk about not having a boyfriend.

"Wait!" said Cali, keeping a firm grip on her wrist.

Yumi squirmed. "Cali, what's with you?"

But then a familiar voice was heard on the speakers. Ulrich's.

"Um, hi Sissi."

"Ulrich! Come on, I'm right here, plant one on me!"

"Sissi, I don't want to kiss you. I don't know who sent you in here, but it was not my idea."

"Why don't you want to kiss me? Do I repulse you? Is it my breath? My hair? My clothes? 'Cause I can change that!"

"No Sissi. I like Yumi. Not you."

Cali smiled at Yumi's sharp intake of breath.

"And the only thing I'd ever want you to change is in the inside, not the outside. One of the hardest things to change, or so I've heard."

There was a buzz of talk from that, and another song came on the speakers. Yumi looked at Cali.

"I have to go."

Cali and Odd and Jeremie and Aelita all observed as Yumi walked over to Ulrich.

"What were you doing in that closet with Sissi?" asked Yumi, her arms folded across her chest.

"You saw that? Yumi it was- I can explain myself, I-"

"Shut up," said Yumi, putting her lips on his.

High-fiving each other, they all made their way over to Yumi and Ulrich.

"You did this, didn't you?" asked Yumi.

The conniving four nodded.

"We're glad you did," said Yumi.

Ulrich smiled at Odd and Jeremie. "Now I've got my girl!"

Yumi laughed and slipped her hand in Ulrich's. "You've always had her," she said.

Cali excused herself from the group, and went over to the DJ. She whispered something to him, then came back. She was grinning.

Not even five seconds later, that Crazy Frog song came on.

EVERYONE burst out laughing at that. People were jumping and being crazy. Cali and Odd jumped around. Aelita and Jeremie sort of swayed around, and Ulrich and Yumi were kissing each other.

"God, were we like that?" asked Cali.

"No," said Jeremie, walking over. "You guys were worse."

"Shut up Remie. It's not like you and Aelita were much better." countered Cali.

"Well, we didn't go around making out in public,"argued Jeremie.

"Yes you did!" said Cali and Odd in perfect unison.

* * *

**A/N:** Well, there's the eleventh chapter. I wanted to fit in a bit of Holiday Spirit. The dance was originally a "Christmas Dance" but I changed it because there are probably people on this website who practice a much different religion. So I put a little bit of "Christmas" stuff in there, like Mistletoe and red and green, but I tried to stray off of Christmas. Also, I had been completely neglecting Ulrich and Yumi, and I felt bad. I'll try to keep it all equal, but it's a little hard. So here's the long overdue love connection between UxY. Don't worry, the major part of this story is coming, so don't get too fed up with the happy-go-lucky front I'm putting up, because the plot is coming up soon. Only took eleven chapter to lead up to it. :) 

I've learned that we can no longer do review response, but I would to put everyone's name in here, at least.

So, a thanks to:** Ocean Kitten; Dark Angel1000; lyokolady; renayumi; American-Kitty; Long lost sorrow; Didgi girl; jalepeno1011; Rycr**; **Angels 'n Dreams**; **Raymanly73; lostmoonchild; Otritzi; JAZZG; Yumi Stern; RainingHeart; hppartygirl; CrazyCreator33; KajiMori; **and** the-gothic-furby** for reviewing. Many thanks!


	12. Time For Therapy

**.it own not do I**

* * *

**.:Flashback:.**

"Shut up and do it, or you're not going to school!" screamed Mother, her makeup perfect and dress beautiful. I had thought this was gonna be a good day since she dressed like that.

How wrong I was.

First, she had me cook the breakfast, then clean the kitchen, the living room and ALL of my cousin's rooms. She had waken me up quite early to do all this.

I was not unused to it, but that was sleep I wasn't going to get anytime soon.

Mother came to me and grabbed my wrist. I was gong to first grade. She took me into the bathroom and made me take a bath and brush my teeth. She put some clothes on me that weren't ripped in five places and threw me into the car. I was so excited to go to school, I was jumping up and down on my seat. As we pulled into the parking lot, my mother whacked me one on the chest and grabbed my backpack, and my hand, and dragged me towards the door. She was easing up on the force, and for that, I was thankful.

She signed me in, and then took me to my classroom. "Mess up and you'll never come back here again!" she hissed in my ear. I nodded and walked into the classroom.

The teacher looked at me funny. I had a lot more bruises than a normal boy had, but she didn't press it. She did keep a closer eye on me, though. Maybe she thought I was a troublemaker, I don't know.

For the next month or so, I went to school without one absence. It was bliss. Even if I had to come how and work twice as hard, knowing that I was going to that paradise later on made it all worth it.

But one day, I made a mess in my pants. I was so scared they were going to take away my lunch, or throw me into a mirror, and I cringed when the teacher came over to me.

"What happened, sweetie?" asked the teacher.

"I... I made a mess in my pants," I whispered to her. I suddenly remembered what my mother had told me the first day. "I swear I'll never do it again. Please, just don't tell my Mother!"

When she took my hand and led me to the door, I looked to her. "Please let me have my lunch. I'd much rather the mirror treatment."

The teacher looked at me oddly. "What are you talking about Oswald?"

"The mirror treatment. You know, you slam my head in the mirror and tell me I'm a bad boy. I already know I am, but Mother says you have to be repetitive with me."

The teacher gasped. "Come now, Oswald. I'm taking you to Miss Jenna, the counselor."

"Is that where you do it? Okay."

I walked into the counselor's office, and there were many cabinets, two clinical beds, a desk that was very cluttered and so many toys.

I looked around for a mirror. I saw one, near Miss Jenna. She looked to be about twenty years old, with long brown hair and a smile on her face. Her eyes were blue, and I thought she looked like an angel. Why did they have to take me to such a happy looking place to do my treatment?

"Jenna, this is Oswald. He needs some new clothes."

Then she walked over to her and whispered some things into her ear. They were probably talking about the calabur of my punishment. That's what Aunt Debbi always did.

Then the teacher left, and Jenna clapped her hands, walking over to me. She took my hand, and led me to the bathroom. "Let's get you all cleaned up, now.

I took a shower, then I put on the clothes Miss Jenna provided for me and walked out.

"Purple does quite befit you," said Miss Jenna as she came over to me.

"Okay, now, why do you think I'm going to slam your head into a mirror?"

"Isn't that how everyone punishes bad boys?" I asked.

"No, at this school, we never hit!" said Jenna.

"You don't?"

"NO!" said Jenna.

I cringed. She lowered her voice. "What's wrong? Does your mother hit you?"

I slowly nodded my head. Then my eyes widened and I shook my head. "Don't tell her I said that! Please!" I said, with a hint of desperation in my voice.

"I won't. Now Odd," what are we going to do about all these cuts and bruises?"

"Odd?" I asked.

"I think the name suits you. I'd rather not say Oswald, do you like that name?"

I shook my head. "Then it's settled. I'll call you Odd from now on."

I smiled. This woman was the nicest person I've ever met. All my life, I had known horrible people, but now I had my own little angel -mother, even- who I could look to for comfort. And I'd NEVER had that before. Never. It was a good feeling.

**.:End Flashback:.**

Odd shook his head. All these damn flashbacks were messing him up. He had kept it so carefully hidden in the back of his mind for so long, and they were now resurfacing with more vigor than they ever had. It was because of Cali, he knew.

It wasn't like him to go to the counselor's office and talk things out, but he felt as if that was an impending choice that heavily weighed the outcome of his schoolwork.

Cali had already started meetings with the counselor. The school had offered it to her when the trial was done and over with. Cali accepted, and she was doing much better than before.

But Odd had never told anyone about his past. Except Cali. And showing up at the guidance counselor's office one day and asking to talk with Miss Hannah about his dark past, well, her receptionist would just die laughing. Odd just didn't seem like the guy who had a horrible past. But he did, as much of a past as Cali did. And he wanted to stop rethinking those nightmares. Those memories.

After all, he hadn't had very many happy memories. The only ones he could ever think of was Miss Jenna. And she started working for the SS just for him. She had told him that, once. They were talking in her office, Odd was holding an ice pack to his cheek, his mother's newest installment, and she was telling him how she'd be quitting her job in a little while.

He was devastated, but she told him she was going to work for the SS for him. That she was going to present his case, that she was going to get him away from his mother even if she had give up all of her free time just to do it. She did quit, and the next guidance counselor wasn't as nice as Miss Jenna. Yes, she gave Odd treatment for his bruises, but she didn't talk to him, or made any effort to make him feel better.

Then, Miss Jenna came to the school on day, and came marching up to Odd's class, and said: "You're going to a boarding school tomorrow, Odd! I've shown them who your mother really is! You're free!"

Odd jumped up, smiling and hugging her. The class was oblivious to this, they really didn't like Odd much, and it didn't phase them much. But the teacher was smiling.

Odd didn't even spend the night with his mother that night, he spent it with Jenna. She had an extra bed in her apartment, and she had gotten Odd a new toothbrush, Pjs, and even another purple outfit. It was the best night of his life. They went out to eat for dinnertime! And Odd could get whatever he wanted! He ordered a large cheeseburger, and a side of fries, and ate every bit of it. Miss Jenna just laughed and smiled. She loved Odd like he was her own son.

The next day, Odd rode in the car with his mother, and Miss Jenna was with him. It was the last time he'd ever see his mother again, he realized. And then they came to the school, and it was like Heaven to Odd.

He smiled at the memory, and headed towards the Counselor's office. He passed Cali, who was just leaving it, and didn't even bear her a second glance. She looked puzzled, but realized he was about to ask for help, and knew she should give him some space.

He walked in, and the receptionist, Mrs. Thomas, looked at Odd. "Cali's just left, you didn't see her?"

Odd nodded. "I saw her. I'm not here for Cali. I'm... I'm here set up an appointment."

Mrs. Thomas looked taken aback. "Is... is this a joke, Odd? Some elaborate prank?"

He shook his head. "No, I'm here for very much the same reason as Cali."

Mrs. Thomas, still puzzled, looked at her computer. "Miss Hannah can take you now, the next appointment isn't for another two hours. You wait here while I go tell her."

Odd sat in the chair, and watched as Mrs. Thomas went off to get the counselor.

She went back to her seat, waving Odd in.

He walked in, letting out a breath.

"Hello, Odd. I take it this isn't a joke?"

Odd sank into a chair. "No, Miss Hannah. I'm here because I want it to stop."

"Want what to stop?"

"I'm a lot like Cali than people know. The reason why we're so close... It's because we both had the same past. We were both abused."

Miss Hannah took in a breath. Odd was abused? But he hid it so _well_! "Odd, I-"

"No, you need to let me finish." said Odd, cutting her off. "My mother abused me since I was real young. Ever since my dad kept coming home less and less. She thought it was my fault, she hit me, and made me do chores and whatnot." Odd shook his head. "I hid it so well, because I had a lot of time to push it into the back of my mind. I figured out that what my mother did was not normal, and I really didn't want to talk about it, so I just pushed it to the back of my mind."

Odd looked back at Miss Hannah. "But now, it's back in the front again, and I don't want to take all that work to push it back again. I want it to stop."

"I'm guessing Cali had something to do with this?"

"Cali has everything to do with this! I could have probably kept it in the back of my mind my entire life it weren't for her, the wall was getting stronger every day, and I knew it would be almost done, and then that would be that."

"But Cali didn't want to forget her past?"

"Oh, she wanted to, but I couldn't let her go through all the pain I went through to keep it back there. So every night, I'd end up in her room, and she'd talk about her past. I'd listen, and comfort her sometimes, holding her occasionally, but it was starting to affect me."

"Night? You guys were in each other's rooms at _night?_"

"Well, yes, and sometimes we'd fall asleep... No, not like THAT, Miss Hannah! I could never have taken advantage of her like that."

"So... I should trust that that hasn't happened now that you two are together?"

"No, it hasn't. Don't worry." said Odd.

"All right then, please continue."

"Well, one day, I told her about my past. She knew I was abused, but she didn't know very many details. So I told her of mine. And then it was her turn to listen and comfort me. And the wall was crumbling. I knew I was in for it. She was destroying all that I had worked for. And I still loved her. I couldn't distance myself from her. For one thing, she's Jeremie's twin, and part of the gang, but also because I couldn't even begin to think of not being around her."

Odd sighed and looked at Miss Hannah. "She's got me wrapped around her finger, doesn't she?"

The Counselor laughed. "Yeah, she does, Odd."

Odd smiled. "Well, at least I don't mind... much."

Miss Hannah looked at the clock. "We've got quite a bit more time, Odd. Want to resurface some old memories?"

"Why not." agreed Odd, and he began to tell her of her mother, and of her beatings, But he never mentioned Miss Jenna. He didn't know why he never mentioned it, he just felt he didn't want her to know.

Miss Hannah finally bid Odd a good-bye, and he left, heading to dinner.

"Hey Odd, where have you been all after noon?" asked Ulrich when Odd arrived late for dinner.

"I was at Miss Hannah's office," replied Odd, shoving a glob of mashed potatoes into his mouth.

"Miss Hannah's office? What would you need to do there?"

"Get guidance. Talk about my past. Get rid of the memories."

Ulrich nodded. "I'm glad you finally did something about it."

Yumi and Jeremie nodded in agreement. They had all been told the details of Odd's past.

"Yeah, Odd, I'm proud of you," said Cali, touching his arm.

Odd turned to smile at, but Cali saw something missing in it.

Over the past few weeks, Odd grew more and more distant form the gang, even missing a XANA attack on occasion. He spent even more time in Miss Hannah's office. He never told her about Miss Jenna, but he told her of everything else.

Then, one day, Odd arrived at Miss Hannah's for his usual meeting. Mrs. Thomas told Odd to wait, so he plopped down in Mrs. Thomas's chair and pulled out a Gameboy she had taken away from some other kid. Yeah, he was _that_ acquainted with these people.

Mrs. Thomas smiled at him when she came out of the room.

"Oh Odd, what _will_ I do without you?" she mumbled.

"You'll just wither up and die, Mrs. Thomas," grinned Odd.

"Well, I've gotta work, and you can see Miss Hannah now."

"Okay, thank you, Mrs. Thomas." He handed her the Gameboy. She took it and began playing with it.

She grinned at him. "Hey, I've heard this game was pretty good!" she defended.

Odd rolled his eyes, and entered Miss Hannah's room.

And there, sitting with Miss Hannah, was Miss Jenna.

* * *

**There you go, another chapter. These will probably be this short now, because I want to have more chapters. :) Anyways, this was SORT OF a filler chapter, but I left you on a cliffy! Yeah, you love me. Now review. Sorry it took so long!**

**Oh, and I've decided to just reply to the users who reviewed privately. I think I'll get in trouble if I keep replying in the chapter like I have been... so if you're not a user... become one! So that way I can reply to you, too!**

**Lady Epur out**


	13. Meet the Friends

**Not mine**

* * *

"Miss... Miss Jenna?" asked Odd incredulously. 

She smiled at him. "Oh, it really_ is_ you, Odd!" she exclaimed, circling around from the desk and giving him a hug.

He was stunned. All those years of searching, and here she was. She didn't look much different, either. Granted, there were a few age lines on her face, and her hair was not her natural brown, but more of a red, but it all suited her, actually.

He saw her right hand. It sported a gold band and a diamond ring on her ring finger. So she was married. "H-how are you, Miss Jenna?" he asked.

She smiled. "I've been doing great, actually. I've been married for the past two years to a man named Doug Herman-"

"Any kids?" asked Odd bluntly.

Miss Jenna laughed, used to his bluntness. "Not yet, Odd. But we're thinking about it."

Odd sat down on a nearby chair. He was still feeling a bit dizzy. "I can't believe it... I thought I'd NEVER see you again... Why'd you come back?"

"Hannah is actually Doug's sister. She and I were talking one night, and she started talking about this odd boy dressed in purple, and I knew right away that she was talking about you," explained Miss Jenna.

"Wait, I thought everything I said was supposed to be confidential!" exclaimed Odd, appalled that his innermost emotions were being passed around like Sunday-Evening gossip.

"It is," said Miss Hannah quickly. "I never spoke a word of anything you said. You know I'd never, Odd. Not unless you were going to do something to harm yourself or others."

"Then why," asked Odd, "were you talking about me?"

"I was telling Jenny that I had a boy who dressed very peculiarly, that's all." said Miss Hannah, biting her bottom lip.

Odd leaned back in his chair, still suspicious. But Miss Jenna knew all about his past. So he didn't mind. Not that much, anyway.

Relieved that odd was going to let it slide, Miss Hannah continued on. "Anyways, Jenny's come here to see you. Shouldn't you introduce her to your friends, or something?"

Odd slipped off the chair and nodded. "Okay, Miss Hannah."

He got up and headed towards the door. "Would you like to come meet my friends, Miss Jenna?"

She nodded. "I'd love to, Odd."

Odd led her through the lobby, then through the walkway into the woods to the courtyard. His friends were all hanging out on the bench. Jeremie was sitting with Aelita on his lap, and he was whispering something in her ear, which was causing her to laugh. Yumi and Ulrich took up the other part of the bench and were laughing at a joke Cali was saying, who was sitting on top of the back of the bench.

All it was missing, Odd realized with a sudden jolt, was him. He would be sprawled out at the foot of the bench, making them all laugh. But he wasn't there. Instead, he was spending all his time in the Guidance Counselor's office, talking about his past. For, he realized, the fun of it. Not to help himself out, but because he liked dumping out all his problems on people and have them figure it out. He liked the fact that he'd had no responsibility for anything over the past few weeks.

And now a new emotion was surging through him. Not the loneliness of before, but guilt. He needed to fix what he'd done. He saw, when he walked over there, Cali. He saw her laughs were fake. He saw purple circles under her eyes. She hadn't been getting any sleep. And it was because she was worried about him. _Well, I'll just have to fix that,_ Odd thought as he came to a stop at the bench.

"Hey guys, I want you to meet someone," he said finally.

It was Cali who recovered the quickest from Odd's bringing a woman over to them. And she had a pretty good feeling exactly who it was.

"You're Miss Jenna, aren't you?" she asked, jumping off the back of the bench and walking over.

Taken aback, Miss Jenna looked at her. "How do you know?"

"Simple. Odd's got that look in his eye, one that boys solely reserve for their mothers. And I know that the only person he ever thought as ever being his mother was an old guidance counselor, Miss Jenna. Of course, I was guessing as well," stated Cali.

"Ah. So you must be Cali, then?" asked the woman.

Cali just nodded. "That's me."

Odd chuckled a bit. That was SO like Cali. Miss Jenna, this is Jeremie, Cali's twin brother, and Aelita." They looked up and smiled, finally noticing that they were being spoken to. "And Yumi and Ulrich." Yumi gave a feeble wave and Ulrich nodded.

"Well, I am Jenna Herman. I live in Bordeaux, about a seven hour drive from here."

(**A/N:** Assuming, Kadic College is in Paris, Bordeaux being about 600 KM away from Paris, that would be about right, I should think...)

After introductions were made, Jeremie offered to take everyone out for ice cream. Everyone paid for theirs, of course. Well, they tried to. But finally Jeremie ended up paying for Aelita, while Odd paid for Cali, and tried to pay for Miss Jenna, who just laughed and wouldn't let him. And, of course, Ulrich paid for Yumi, who tried to protest but ended up shrugging.

When they came back, Odd insisted on escorting Miss Jenna out to her car.

"Odd," said Miss Jenna, fidgeting a bit with her purse in her hands.

"Yeah?"

"Well, I was just wondering... You know, if you wanted to come live with me and Doug. You don't have to, of course. But, I... Well, I've always thought of you as a son, and-"

"Are you kidding, Miss Jenna? I'd LOVE that! Imagine me, Odd Della Robbia, with a REAL family!" exclaimed Odd.

Miss Jenna smiled. "Wonderful, Odd. This semester ends next wekk, so I'll come and pick you up then!"

Odd watched her go, waving with a huge smile plastered to his face. He was _finally_ going to have a mother.

**.:Next Day:.**

Odd walked into breakfast with a smile on his face. His smile didn't even falter when he saw the rubbery oatmeal they were serving. He took it in stride and slurped it all up. Then Cali's, as well.

"What are you so happy about, Odd?" Cali finally asked.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you. Miss Jenna asked me to live with her! She and her husband, Doug are going to adopt me! Isn't it great!"

Everyone began patting him on the back and telling him congratulations. Cali hung back, though.

"Odd?" she started. He turned to her and his smiled faltered.

"What's wrong, Cali? Aren't you happy for me?" he asked.

"I am. It's just... Didn't Miss Jenna say she lived in Bordeaux? That's about a seven hour drive from here..." Cali bit her lip.

Odd's smile vanished. "But Cali, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me. Don't you think I should take it? I'm probably NEVER going to have a family..."

Cali took a deep breath and nodded. "Yes. You're right. I am happy for you, Odd. But... if you go to Bordeaux... I hope you know that that means we ought to break up."

"Break up? Cali, no. I don't want to," said Odd.

"Neither do I, Odd. But long-distance relationships. You can't _really_ think we could make it work, do you?"

"Cali, don't do this to me. Don't make this about you."

"I'm not, Odd! I truly am happy for you! But I'm not going to do the long-distance relationship thing! It would be too constricting, too depressing." Everyone was staring at Odd and Cali now.

Odd hung his head. "Somehow, I knew you were going to say that... I suppose you're right. I will miss you, though, Cali."

She nodded, blinking back her tears. "Yeah, Odd. I will, too. When are you leaving?"

"Next week."

"I know you're going to love it with Miss Jenna and her husband."

Odd looked at Cali. "Wait, we're not breaking up right _now_, are we?"

Cali nodded, letting the tears fall now. "Might as well, Odd. It'll be harder if we pretend like it's not going to happen for the rest of the week."

"But Cali! I-"

He was cut off by a kiss. "I'll see you around, Odd." Cali walked out of the room leaving what was left of her tray that Odd hadn't eaten untouched.

The others were looking at him with pity now. "I don't need this, you guys. I don't want your pity."

"Cali does have a point, though," commented Jeremie.

"What? You guys can't break up with me, we aren't dating," said Odd.

Ulrich cracked a grin. "No, what he means is, what about XANA? You can't just up and leave."

"You guys have been taking care of XANA pretty well without me. You've got Cali anyways," Odd said.

"You won't tell Miss Jenna about it, will you then?" asked Jeremie.

"Of course I won't, Jeremie." Odd got up, too. "I need some air. I'll see you guys later."

Jeremie sighed and looked at the others. "This is not good..."

Aelita, Yumi, and Ulrich nodded.

"Me and Aelita'll go talk to Cali," said Yumi, getting up.

Jeremie and Ulrich watched them go. "Somehow, I had a feeling this would happen," said Jeremie finally.

Ulrich looked at him. "What? Odd leaving?"

Jeremie shook his head. "No. The group splitting up."

Ulrich gave him a confused look. "We're not splitting up. Well, Odd and Cali are, but..."

Jeremie sighed. "Two words, my dear friend. Chain Reaction."

He got up to leave as well, leaving Ulrich confused.

* * *

**Whoa, took me long enough to get another chapter up, eh? Well, here it is. Albeit short, but here all the same. I'll hope to get the next chapter up soon, and hopefully it'll be longer. I'm afraid there are only a few chapters left, but rest assured, you'll like them, hopefully. Now the plot is really rolling.**

**Review kids.**

**Lady Epur out**


	14. Past Tense

"So... Um, bye guys." Odd picked up a suitcase with the top part unzipped. A whimper came out of it. He patted it affectionately.

Aelita came over to him and hugged him. "You won't be forgotten. You can be sure of that."

Odd grinned. "Thanks, Princess. That makes me feel a lot better."

Yumi came next. "Who else will pick on XANA, peabrain?"

"I give you full XANA-teasing rights, Yumi," he said seriously. Yumi laughed.

"Hey you creepy genius, you take care of yourself. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"Now why constrict myself so? You take care, too, Einstein. You'll hear from me if you hurt Aelita."

Jeremie collected himself into a salute. "Yessir."

Ulrich handed Odd a picture in a simple wooden frame. It was all of them. The whole group. Jeremie Aelita, and Ulrich were sitting on a bench. Yumi was perched at the top of it, near Ulrich. Odd was sitting on the ground with one knee up. Kiwi was around him, and Cali was on Odd's lap. But that was because she had tripped over Kiwi and toppled over him. Everyone in the picture was laughing, and you could even see Kiwi's disconcerted face. The camera with which the photo was taken was on a timer, so that was the result it ended with. They didn't bother taking another one. Too much trouble.

He couldn't believe they framed it. Well... he could. It was sweet of them, was all.

"Thanks," he said, still staring at it.

"It's from all of us," said Yumi. She stepped up to him and gave him a hug. "We'll all miss you," she said.

Odd glanced a look at a dorm room window... Cali's dorm room window.

"Yes, even her," Yumi added. "Just because she didn't come doesn't mean she won't miss you."

Odd nodded. A black Sedan pulled up. Odd looked at the car, and then at the unfamiliar man inside it. He was coming out of the car and towards the him...

Odd stuck the picture inside his bag. He didn't want the man to see it. It seemed to personal...

"I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that you're Odd," said the man, coming up to Odd.

"How'd you know?" asked Odd, cracking a fake smile.

"Oh, I dunno... the purpled clothes and puffy hairstyle, maybe? And the fact that you're carrying a suitcase."

"You should consider a career in fortune-telling," was Odd's witty come-back.

"Unfortunately, I've already cut out my career path. I'm a professor of child psychology."

"Too bad."

"Well, I'm Doug Herman, by the way," he said, taking Odd's suitcase and starting to put it in the trunk.

Odd stopped him, pulling Kiwi out of the suitcase and zipping it back up. "I can't leave him in the trunk."

Doug seemed taken aback by the animal, but didn't say anything. He took it in stride, closing the trunk and sliding into the driver's seat.

Odd opened the back door and distributed the dog onto the back seat. He closed the door and turned to his friends. "I'll miss you guys."

The smiled sadly at him and waved. "Call us! Don't forget your friends back at Kadic!"

Odd nodded, waving. He slipped into the passenger seat, and Doug gassed the engine, setting them off.

They sat in silence for the first two hours. Well, near silence, anyways. They had the dulcet tones of the radio on.

Doug finally spoke up. "Your friends seemed nice."

"They were," said Odd, completely un-compelled to elaborate.

"Well, what are their names?"

"The one in green was Ulrich, and his girlfriend Yumi, the one in black. The kid in the turtleneck and glasses was Jeremie, and his girlfriend Aelita, the girl with the pink hair."

"I remember Jenny telling me about a girl named Cali... was she there, too?"

Odd's throat felt dry. He did _not_ want to talk about her. But he did, anyways.

"No. We um, recently broke up. But she looks a lot like Jeremie, only... well... Actually, they look nothing alike. Not to me anyway. Jeremie had a way different look than Cali. Cali... she carried herself in a distinguished way. Not in a snotty way, but one of confidence. While Jeremie sort of hung back, yet if you got to know him, he was anything _but_ shy." Odd broke off, thinking about his friends. "And Ulrich, he _seems_ quiet, but he's actually VERY rambunctious when he wants to be. He aspires to be a soccer player, and he's usually thinking up some game-winning play most of the time. Which accounts for the whole not-talking-too-much thing. He's the first guy I ever met at Kadic. I don't know where I'd be without him. We always did the craziest things... I remember this one time we got Kiwi to pee in Jim's shoe, and that was a funny sight, to see Jim's face when he felt the wetness in there... Kiwi filled it up all the way practically."

Odd stared out the window at the glowing neon signs advertizing fast food restaurants and gas stations. "And at first glance, Yumi seems like a misunderstood girl. But to tell the truth, she probably knows who she is better than any of us know ourselves. And she's a GREAT frisbee player. She can throw it and make just the slightest amount of curve to get it to you. It doesn't matter if you're a bad catcher when you play frisbee with her, you're practically guaranteed to catch it since she's never missed her target yet."

He kept on talking about his friends. He had told himself during the initial silence that he didn't want to talk to Doug, to tell him things that Miss Jenna had already obviously told him. But that doesn't mean he was going to tell him. But here he was, rambling on about his friends...

And then he realized the worst thing about it. He was talking about his friends in the past tense... which could only mean he never expected to see them again. He abruptly stopped talking.

He told Doug that his allergies were acting up. That his eyes were tearing up from the pollen in the air. Too bad the only person he _couldn't_ fool these days was himself.

**.:Back at Kadic:.**

Classes went on as usual. Nothing seemed different after Odd left. But it was. It definitely was. The gang never knew how much their whole routine was affected by Odd's presence. Until now.

It was like one of those "you-never-know-what-you've-got-until-it's-gone" instances. And it sucked. They could no longer count on Odd to crack a joke when they were feeling down. They could no longer hear Odd's let-downs to Sissi. They could no longer look forward to Odd's annoying(yet comforting) rambles about how Ms. Hertz's class was too confusing, or plead to "borrow" Cali or Jeremie's homework.

Though Cali was the one who took Odd's disappearance from their lives the hardest(and with good reason!). She threw herself into her academics with vigor unmatched even to Herve's, spending every waking moment studying subjects that were hardly even touched in high school. She was now just... there. She became the background, if you will. She was always at the table with the gang during meals, always at classes, but... she didn't really say anything much anymore.

Yumi and Aelita wanted to talk to Cali about it, but Jeremie always held them back. He wanted his sister to "wallow" before she accepted help. He'd give her another week.

At the end of class one day, Ms. Hertz called Cali to her desk after the bell rang. Curious as to what it was, Jeremie, Aelita, and Ulrich tried to hang back, packing up their things as slowly as they could to catch a snippet of their conversation.

"Cali, I've noticed that your grades have improved... enormously. There's this huge academic decathlon going in Bordeaux, and I want you as part of the team."

Jeremie, Aelita, and Ulrich all looked at each other, bewildered.

"Now, I know this is only for high school level, and that you're only twelve and have skipped a grade as it is, I think you are more than prepared to take part in this competition. I have never met a child who could read such fluent Latin, And know the back culture of the entire Roman downfall. As well as your impeccable knowledge of algebra. I mean, you already know calculus equations and how to solve them! Well, aside from your brother of course, but... you are just... well, much _better_ at it."

Jeremie's fists clenched. "I don't want to hear any more of this..." he said, walking out of the room, followed by Ulrich and Aelita.

"We're leaving next week. Five students are in the team, and if you accept, you'll be the fifth member.. Our secret weapon, if you will."

"Sure, Ms. Hertz. I'll go to this decathlon thing with you... though will it affect my classes here?"

"My dear child! You're already farther ahead in most of those classes, than I believe, some of the teachers teaching it themselves!"

"Okay. Do I get to meet these members?"

"Of course! They're coming to this classroom after school to go over their strategies at the decathlon. You're welcome to come join us, in fact, I urge you to join us. You may have some very useful suggestions we may have overlooked."

"Okay, I'll come."

"And for the rest of the week, you children won't go to classes. You'll be "hanging out", as they call it, in a classroom preparing for the competition. Which also means no homework because I don't want to overload your brains with so much mental preparation."

Cali nodded and hitched her backpack higher onto her shoulder. "Okay. I'll see you later, then, Ms. H."

Cali exited the class room and headed for lunch. When she sat down, Jeremie was staring at her sourly.

"What?" she asked.

They all looked up. This was the first thing Cali had said to them all week.

"What did Ms. Hertz want to see you about?" asked Aelita.

"Oh, it's nothing really. She just invited me into this scholastic decathlon thing in Bordeaux. No big deal."

That possibly could have been what made Jeremie do what he did next. That Cali had just shrugged off a HUGE academic experience which was sure to get her into any college in the country, if not the continent, she could choose.

"Yeah RIGHT, Cali. It's not just _some_ scholastic decathlon thing and you know it!" blasted Jeremie.

Cali was taken aback. Literally. She almost fell out of her chair she leaned back so far. "Whoa, Remie, chill..."

"I've been working towards that competition since I was ten, and here you are, only a couple of months upon arriving to this school, taking away all my opportunities! AND, you've only had a COUPLE of yours of school under your belt! You didn't even _go_ to school for Kindergarten to third grade!"

"Remie, please! You're making a scene..."

"I don't care! I was her _first_! It's not fair that you're getting all of _my_ opportunities!"

Cali stood up, now, drawing up to Jeremie's height(wasn't hard, considering they _did_ have the same height). "Oh _well_, Remie. We don't always get what we want! Like a family! Just be happy you've still got Aelita. Okay? Be happy! Stop freaking out over such a _dumb_ thing!"

"It's not dumb! It's a big deal, and you know it!"

"Yeah, I do. But I'm not freaking out about it, like you! I thought you'd be happy for me!"

"Yeah right!"

"Okay, so maybe I did think you were going to be jealous. I was even acting all casual about it just to help _you_ out!"

"Oh, I'm _so_ sure!"

"Well, at least this keeps me from thinking about Odd! But like _you_ care!"

"It's time you stop acting like such a drama queen about that anyways!"

_"Vos es caenum!"_

She stalked off, proud of herself for yelling at him in Latin. Jeremie was left blinking. Maybe she _did_ deserve that position in the decathlon after all... but he'd never tell her that...

Cali went through the rest of her classes on autopilot. There was too much for her to process. How could Jeremie have been so insensitive to her?

When classes were finally over, Cali headed towards Ms. Hertz's classroom. But on the way there, she passed by Jeremie and the others. She barely glanced at them and continued on.

She came into the classroom, much to ms. Hertz's delight. In the classroom where four other kids. Much older than her. They were all around sixteen, and she was twelve. There was one boy who fourteen, but that was the youngest they got to.

One was a stick-like girl named Maria, an equally skinny guy(yet much taller than Maria) sat next to her named Jonas. They were both sixteen. Then there was a fifteen-year-old boy named Hector who wore glasses with rims as thick as glass coke bottle bottoms. Then the fourteen-year-old boy was introduced as Michael, who was a bit on the skinny side but seemed normal.

They all looked from her to Ms. Hertz like she was crazy. "Now everyone, this is Cali."She liftedher hand up.

"Hey."

They kept on staring.

Shejust sat down and looked over the strategies they had drawn up.

* * *

**I'm a little late getting this up... yeah, I know. Please don't kill me! I mostly wrote most of this tonight... hopefully I'll update EITMOW... but I dunno what to do next really, but I'll think of something. The thing is, I know where these stories are going, it's just hard to GET there. Well, I hope you enjoyed... Sorry for such the long wait. Hopefully it won't be as long for the next chapter!**

**Lady Epur out**


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